ISLAMABAD:01 March: Students of Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) residing in the twin cities of Rawalpindi and Islamabad took out a protest rally and staged a sit-in on Wednesday to condemn the massacre of 18 people in Dasu.

The rally started from Aabpara and culminated at National Press Club (NPC) where the protesters staged a sit-in.

The students were chanting slogans against the government for its failure to provide security to the innocent people traveling on the Korakoram Highway (KKH). The protesters demanded that the perpetrators of this heinous act of terrorism be brought to justice at the earliest. They were also carrying placards and banners inscribed with slogans condemning the gruesome act.

Addressing the protesters, Faizullah Faraq of Balawaristan National Students Organisation (BNSO) said the government had failed to provide security to its own people therefore it had no right to remain in power. He also lashed out at Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) government for its failure to maintain law and order situation in the region.

Sami Barcha of Progressive Youth Front (PYF) Hunza chapter lambasted the federal government for what he termed usurping every basic democratic right of the GB masses.

Shahid Astori of the People’s Students Federation (PSF) in his address pointed out ‘hidden hands’ behind the Dasu massacre and urged the GB masses to get united to frustrate the designs of the anti-state and anti-Islam elements.

On the occasion, chief coordinator of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) for Gilgit-Baltistan Siddiqul Farooq said the incident was a conspiracy against the country and government should hold a judicial inquiry into it while aggrieved families should be given compensation.

“This incident shows failure of central, provincial and Gilgit-Baltistan governments,” he said, adding that it was strange that GB Chief Minister Mehdi Shah remained out of the area most of the time during the last two years.

Later, a seminar was organsied at International Islamic University Islamabad (IIUI) in which Rector Prof Fateh Mohammad Malik said youth should think above sectarian lines if they wanted to see the country prosper.

The problems being faced by the youth could be resolved through proper guidance; he said and added some elements were trapping the youth to fan sectarianism and ethnicity.The news.