MUZAFFARABAD, PAKISTAN-CONTROLLED KASHMIR - More than a thousand students have rallied in the capital of Pakistan-held Kashmir to denounce India's downgrading of the special status of the portion of the disputed region it controls.

The demonstrators chanted ``We want freedom'' and denounced human rights violations in Indian-administrated Kashmir.

Tuesday's rally in Muzaffarabad came a day after Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan vowed to globally highlight the issue of Kashmir. He will address the U.N. General Assembly on Sept. 27.

Tensions have soared between Pakistan and India since Aug. 5, when New Delhi revoked Muslim-majority Kashmir's decades-old semiautonomous status, touching off anger in Indian-controlled Kashmir and in Pakistan.

Kashmir is split between archrivals Pakistan and India and claimed by both in its entirety.