At least one police officer was killed and 90 others were injured after violent clashes erupted in Pakistan Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (POJK) during the ongoing protests and shutter down strike across the region, Pakistan media reported on May 12, 2024. Protests were held in Samahini, Sehansa, Mirpur, Rawalkot, Khuiratta, Tattapani Hattian Bala, all in POJK. Rawalkot deserves special attention as the protesting masses also waved the Indian tricolour for the first time in the history of Pakistan.
According to a report, the which cited Superintendent of Police (Mirpur) Kamran Ali Adnan Qureshi succumbed to a gunshot wound in the chest in the town of Islamgarh where he was deployed along with other personnel to stop a rally from Muzaffarabad via Kotli and Poonch districts under the banner of Joint Awami Action Committee (JAAC).
In Muzaffarabad, the POJK Neelam Valley, the general public beat up the Pakistan Rangers and Police, tore their clothes, raised slogans of Azadi and waved the tricolour in the demand for joining India intensified. The JAAC which has traders at the forefront in most part of the region has been seeking the provision of electricity as per hydropower generation cost in POJK subsidised wheat flours and end to the privileges of the elite class.
Indian tricolour 🇮🇳 hoisted in Rawalkot, #POJK. That part of our great nation will rejoin us in the next years. pic.twitter.com/SbfnqrtqdQ
— Abhijit Majumder (@abhijitmajumder) May 11, 2024
On the night of May 8-9, 2024, around 70 JAAC activists were arrested by the police during raids at their residences and their relatives in Mirpur and Muzaffarabad triggering serious clashes in Dadyal. The committee had subsequently announced a wheel jam strike and shutter downs on May 10, 2024, a day ahead of its planned march towards Muzaffarabad today.
Amid a crippling strike on May 10, 2024, the fierce clashes between police and protestors were witnessed in different areas of Muzaffarabad. After the strike, stones were pelted at the police and this prompted authorities to write to Secretary of the Interior Division requesting six Civil Armed Force platoons (CAF) for security.
Pakistani media reported that authorities had placed mounds of earth on paths leading to Muzaffarabad apart from making more arrests to prevent people from heading towards the city. Witnesses said that Muzaffarabad division and Poonch division observed complete strikes.
Political activist from POJK Amjad Ayub Mirza said, India cannot stay aloof from the current situation in POJK and must act now. In a statement, he said, “India cannot remain aloof from the current situation in POJK. At the moment, our people are fighting. The whole of Pakistan Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (POJK) has been shut down by peaceful protestors who are being beaten up and shot by Pakistani police, the Punjab Police, FC and Azad Kashmir police.”
“Situation is getting out of hand. It is already out of hand and India should now focus their entire attention towards on POJK and help facilitate the independence of this occupied territory including Gilgit Baltistan, and if today the Indian government doesn’t step up their efforts to free POJK and Gilgit Baltistan then this chance of our freedom will wither away.”
