Thousands of people, mostly youngsters, took an overnight break in the town of Garhi Dupatta on Saturday evening after marching some 20km on foot through the Muzaffarabad-Srinagar Highway. Earlier, they resumed their ‘freedom march’, under the aegis of the Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF), towards the restive Line of Control (LoC) from the state capital at about 11am, chanting pro-freedom and anti-India slogans. The marchers had started their journey in vehicles and motorbikes from different parts of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) on Friday morning and had spent the night in Muzaffarabad after reaching here by or past midnight.

At about 10am on Saturday, they assembled at Upper Adda — a hub of political gatherings since long — from where they resumed their march towards Chakothi sector. “Kashmir banega khudmukhtar (Kashmir will become an independent state),” was the frequently chanted slogan by the marchers, who were holding portraits of guerrilla leader Maqbool Butt, former JKLF chairman late Amanullah Khan and current chairman Yasin Malik.

“UN: Kashmir seeks your urgent attention,” read a large banner being held by the marchers in the front row. “UN take over the control of entire state of Jammu and Kashmir to hold a plebiscite therein,” read some placards.

As the marchers walked through the Bank Road, rose petals were showered on them by trader leaders Shaukat Nawaz Mir and Abbas Qadri.

On Friday, two AJK ministers had also held a meeting with JKLF leaders, reiterating their appeal that the marchers should not go close to the LoC, let alone making an attempt to cross it.

In response, the JKLF leaders had assured the team that they would remain completely peaceful throughout the journey to the LoC.

Mohammad Rafiq Dar, central spokesperson for the JKLF, told Dawn that the UN Military Observers Group for India and Pakistan had also contacted them the other day to ascertain their stance.