This archive report was first published on 6 August 2019.
On August 5, 2019, India's Hindu-nationalist government sparked widespread outrage in Pakistan by stripping the disputed Kashmir region of its special autonomy.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government rushed through a presidential decree to scrap the special status granted to the Indian-ruled part of Kashmir from India's constitution.
According to AFP, Pakistani lawmakers began a joint session of parliament to discuss a possible response to Delhi's move, while a separate meeting by Pakistan's top military commanders was planned in the garrison city of Rawalpindi.
Protests were set to kick off in the early afternoon with demonstrations planned in Muzaffarabad, the largest city in Pakistani-held Kashmir, alongside rallies in Lahore, Karachi, and the capital Islamabad.
Ahead of the announcements, tens of thousands of extra Indian troops were deployed in the territory, and a security lockdown was imposed overnight Sunday with all telecommunications there cut.
