NOURNEWS - An All Parties Conference presided over by a pro independence Kashmiri leader Quayyum Raja, held in Dadyal, has demanded the release of a British-Kashmiri researcher Tanveer Ahmed and his co-defendant Safeer Ahmed. They were arrested on 21 of August 2020 for removing a Pakistan flag from Maqbool Butt Shaheed Square, arguing that Butt was a symbol of the movement for the independence of Jammu Kashmir both from India and Pakistan and therefore a foreign national flag should not be hoisted over the head of the pro independence leader. Both the accused were sentenced to two years each on 11 of March 2021. The conference has set up a political committee  to highlight the politically motivated sentence and supported a peaceful sit-in protest in Maqbool Butt Shaheed Square for unspecified period of time. The Conference has acknowledged and appreciated  the British High Commission's concern over Tanveer Ahmed's human rights issues but also demanded that the British Government should advise its Foreign Office to negotiate with its Pakistani counterpart, because removing a flag is not an issue at all. The actual issue is that the Pakistani government is using it as an excuse to pressurise Tanveer Ahmed to stop his research and go back to the United Kingdom.

While the peaceful protest goes on at home and abroad, the sentences have also been challenged in the Dadyal Additional Session Court.