People gather in large numbers during an anti-Pakistan protest, in Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir (ANI Video Grab)
JAMMU: At least two people were killed and several others injured in the Kotehri area of Poonch district of Pakistan-occupied Jammu Kashmir (POJK) during an exchange of fire with law enforcement personnel attempting to clear a road blockade for a food convoy. Kotehri is located about four kilometres from the outskirts of Rawalakot city on the Bagh side, while the main protest camp at Eidgah Ground lies roughly the same distance away in the opposite direction.
Poonch Commissioner Sardar Waheed Khan said that a convoy of food-laden vehicles, escorted by security forces, was travelling to Rawalakot via Bagh in the wee hours of Thursday when it encountered a blockade near Kotehri village. At that site, activists of the proscribed Joint Awami Action Committee (JAAC) had been staging a sit-in for some time.
Khan said another convoy of law enforcement personnel was dispatched from Rawalakot to provide additional security to the food convoy approaching from Bagh. According to him, when the convoy from Rawalakot reached Kotehri, it came under fire from a nearby forest, prompting personnel to return fire. The exchange left one or two protesters injured, Dawn newspaper reported.
He said that after the convoy moved ahead and reached Shujaabad, where it linked up with the food convoy coming from the opposite direction, it again came under fire from protesters. “Obviously, the forces also responded, leaving two or three people wounded,” he said.
In a subsequent written statement, the Poonch administration alleged that armed activists of the proscribed JAAC had blocked all major routes leading to Rawalakot by felling trees and placing boulders on roads, disrupting the supply of essential commodities. It maintained that security personnel had come under heavy fire while clearing the Bagh-Rawalakot road and that the route had subsequently been reopened for the movement of food supplies.
The commissioner confirmed that two people had been killed in the exchange of fire. Asked about social media reports claiming a third fatality, he said the administration was trying to verify the information. Khan said the food convoy reached Rawalakot safely by 10:30am.
Meanwhile, leaders of the JAAC have announced that it would resume its long march on Muzaffarabad on July 15, if its demands remained unmet by then.
Addressing participants at the Eidgah sit-in, JAAC core member Umar Nazir Kashmiri said the alliance would stage a long march on Muzaffarabad on July 15 if its charter of demands was not implemented by July 14. He said the long march, which had been halted in Rawalakot on June 10, would resume under the already announced standard operating procedures.
“Once again, the JAAC seeks implementation of its charter of demands by July 14. If there is no progress by the evening of July 14, we will make a new announcement on July 15. That day, there will neither be this charter of demands nor any demand for the implementation of any agreement. God willing, we will leave this place with a new announcement,” he said.
Kashmiri urged people across the province to begin preparations for the July 15 march. He also appealed to national and international media, political parties, and local and international human rights organisations to monitor the march.
Referring to the ongoing protest campaign, he said sit-ind sit-ins had continued at six locations on the outskirts of Rawalakot since June 10 and had completed one month. He thanked several Pakistani opposition leaders for their efforts to broker peace but remarked that the initiative had come too late.
He also announced an interim organisational arrangement as Shaukat Nawaz Mir and several other core members from Muzaffarabad had been arrested. From now onwards, Sahibzada Khalid Waqas, Raja Saeed Ahmed, Syed Shujaat Kazmi, Malik Adeel, Raja Iftikhar and Advocate Ali Raza would serve as interim core members for the Muzaffarabad division.
