JuD supporters try to cross into Kashmir with aid for protesters, blocked

Hundreds of Pakistani supporters of a militant-linked charity tried to cross into the Indian part of the divided Kashmir region on Wednesday to deliver aid after weeks of violent protests in Islamabad.

But the activists from the Jamaat-ud-Dawah, a front for the anti-India Lashkar-e-Tayiba militant group, did not have permission from either the Pakistani or Indian authorities to cross the contested border and were stopped in a village on the Pakistani side where they staged a protest.

"We will continue the sit-in until these essential food supplies are sent across the divide into the curfew ridden Kashmir valley," Hafiz Abdul Rauf, a senior official of the charity, told Reuters.

Thousands of activists of various religious and jihadi outfits led by Mumbai attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed on Wednesday protested across different Pakistani cities against the visit of Home Minister Rajnath Singh, accusing him for the unrest in Kashmir.

Activists of All Parties Hurriyat Conference, Hizbul Mujahideen, United Jihad Council and other such group protested to denounce Singh's trip, who arrived in Islamabad earlier on Wednesday to attend the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation ministerial conference being hosted by Pakistan.

Saeed led the rally in Lahore's Mall Road and vent out his anger over the government's decision to 'welcome' Singh despite his alleged "role in the killings of innocent Kashmiris".

Saeed said Pakistan government has added insult to the wounds of Kashmiris by welcoming Singh.

"We were not expecting that the Pakistani rulers would welcome Singh who is responsible for the killings of innocent Kashmiris," he said, adding the rulers should have refused to receive the Indian home minister to lodge its protest over Kashmir atrocities.

The United States designated the group a "foreign terrorist organisation" in 2010. The group denies any militant activity.

The Muslim-majority Himalayan region of Kashmir has been divided since shortly after India and Pakistan gained independence from Britain in 1947.

The nuclear-armed neighbours have fought three wars over it and the border between them in the region is an old ceasefire line known as the Line of Control.

The United Nations still monitors the well-fortified positions on both sides of the tense divide.

Forty-six people have been killed and more 5,000 wounded, including Indian security forces, since protests erupted there after the killing of a militant commander on July 8.

Most of the violence has been in the Kashmir valley, the most populous part of Indian Kashmir, which includes the main city of Srinagar.

The JuD activists, chanting "annihilation of India", tried to approach the LoC but were kept well back by steel barricades erected by Pakistani security forces in the village of Chakothi.

The protest came hours before Indian Home Minister Rajnath Singh arrived in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, for South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) talks, according to footage broadcast on the Pakistani television news channel Geo.

A Kashmiri militant commander led a protest in Islamabad against Singh's visit earlier on Wednesday. About 300 people attended.

The militant leader, Syed Salahuddin, said Singh was "a killer of Kashmiris" and Pakistan should cut diplomatic ties with India over the violence in Indian Kashmir.

A Jamaat-ud-Dawah rally marching towards the Line of Control at Chakothi, Pakistan on Tuesday. PTI Photo