Braving chilling weather, over 200 Indian-Americans held a protest in front of the Pakistan Consulate here, strongly condemning the terror attack against Indian security forces in Pulwama and demanding swift action against Pakistan-based terror group Jaish-e-Mohammed and its leader Masood Azhar.
The Indian community drove from across Texas, Austin, Dallas, San Antonio and nearby suburbs of Houston and gathered outside the Pakistan Consulate for the protest on Friday.
Waving the Indian tri-colour, the protestors demanded that Pakistan should "stop providing safe haven to terrorists and manufacturing human bombs".
Though some Pakistani officials came out of the Consulate to stop the protest, the agitators continued with their peaceful demonstration for over three hours.
The main objective of the protest, according to the organisers, was to wake up the world against Pakistan and to call on global powers to take strong actions against acts of terrorism.
"The Indo American community of Houston stands in solidarity with Indians in condemning this dastardly act of terrorism emanating from Pakistan. Our heartfelt shraddhanjali to the brave soldiers. The jehadi terrorist ideology which wants to attack and destroy our democracy must be crushed and will be crushed soon," Achalesh Amar, an activist and spokesperson for the group leading the protest, told PTI.
"Pakistan is the fountainhead of global terrorism. Any western country which has participated in war on jihadi terror has suffered from attacks coming from terrorists based out of Pakistan," he added.
The protesters raised anti-Pakistan slogans and also held placards reading "Pakistan - a terrorist nation" and "Pakistan Stop Being Terrorist Haven", "USA Stop Aid to Pakistan", "Pakistan Stop Terrorism".
"The incident has really shaken the community and every Indian-American wants to do his and her part to stop killings of innocents," Dr Veena Ambardar, a Kashmiri Pandit staying in Houston, said.
The protest was organised by the Friends of India Society International and supported by Kashmiri Pandits of Greater Houston and the local Indian Community. The group has been holding such protests in various other parts of the world like Australia, Japan, UK, Canada, Germany and various cities across the US following the Pulwama terror attack that killed 40 CRPF personnel.
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