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JKLF vows to cross LoC in Kashmir

The Pakistan-based Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front today vowed to go ahead with its plan to cross the Line of Control in Kashmir next Monday.

In a press statement, Amanullah Khan, chairman of the JKLF, said "tens of thousands" of its members would march "toward the LoC en masse, peacefully, openly and unarmed".

He said the JKLF would welcome it if Indian soldiers open fire because "the folly would fully expose India's real face vis-a-vis Kashmir".

Khan's remarks came after Pakistan advised the JKLF to abandon its plans to cross the LoC. "India will be absolutely ruthless and will shoot to kill," foreign office spokesman Zamir Akram told journalists in Islamabad last week.

Akram said he hoped Khan would take into account past events while attempting to cross the LoC. Two similar attempts by Khan in the past -- in 1990 and 1992 -- resulted in violence in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, leaving at least 11 JKLF activists dead in 1990.

Khan said the "only danger is that Pakistan might repeat its follies of the past" to stop the JKLF activists.

DPA

ALSO SEE:
Pakistan hoping Indian bullet will take care of Amanullah
G M Shah, ex-CM of Kashmir, calls for opening of LoC

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