MUZAFFARABAD - Police in Pakistan's part of Kashmir on Saturday arrested nearly 300 members of an opposition party to stop a protest against the region's top elected leader. The party members were angered last month when Sardar Sikandar Hayyat, the region's prime minister, floated the idea of dividing Kashmir permanently on the basis of religion. Most of the arrests were made in Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistan's side of Kashmir, as the demonstrators gathered before a planned march to the parliament building, where they wanted to hold the rally, police Deputy Superintendent Ghulam Sarwar told The Associated Press.
Opposition groups have rejected the idea, saying they want all Kashmiris to have a chance to vote to separate from India, either in order to become an independent state, or to merge with Pakistan. Hayyat withdrew his proposal, saying he was "closing this chapter once and for all."
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