PoJK: There was widespread violence in Rawalakote city and adjoining areas of Pakistan-occupied Jammu Kashmir(PoJK) on July 27, Monday evening and July 28, Tuesday morning. Violence started as the Joint Awami Action Committee (JAAC) activists clashed with security forces during a long march on the day the region went to the polls.
The JAAC alleged that indiscriminate firing by security personnel killed at least 14 of its members. The authorities, including the police chief of PoJK Captain (retd.) Liaquat Ali Mallik, have disputed the claims and said the casualties could not be verified. The violence erupted in Rawalakot as thousands of JAAC supporters tried to march towards PoJK capital Muzaffarabad. While the JAAC claimed that 14 of its activists were killed in firing.
Senior PoJK officials and the JAAC have contradicted one another about Monday’s violence with both blaming one another for triggering Monday’s violence. The police alleged that demonstrators marching towards Muzaffarabad opened fire when trying to force their way into Rawalakot city.
As per the sources, security forces blocked 2,000 protesters approaching the city from the bus terminal and another 3,000 marchers from Dreak, where the JAAC has been camping for over six weeks. “Wherever protesters open fire, security forces will respond with fire. Tear gas is being used to stop the remaining protesters”, the official said. He added that women were among those marching from Dreak, positioned at the rear of the procession.
The JAAC, however, rejected this account saying the security forces opened fire on what it described as a peaceful march. Incidentally, over 14,000 security forces personnel, mainly armed policemen from Punjab, were deployed in POJK a couple of days ago.
MEA reaction on violence
The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on July 28, Tuesday said that the “elections for the so-called Assembly in the illegally occupied region are a cosmetic exercise”. A senior official, reacting to the developments in PoJK, said: “We have seen reports regarding the so-called legislative assembly elections being conducted in the Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir. The current cosmetic electoral exercise is nothing but an attempt by Pakistan to camouflage its illegal occupation and hide its grave human rights violations in the region”.
MEA Spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said: “The ongoing mass protest in Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir is the direct consequence of its economic exploitation, its denial of fundamental rights to the people and its administrative oppression”.
Videos on social media evidently depict the atrocities of Pakistan
There are several videos on the social media platforms showing very large crowds attempting to march on but being blocked by the security personnel. One video shows a man speaking on loudspeaker urging the security personnel to step aside for they were not the target as the government was being targeted. In another video, a youth says in an agitated manner that several protesters have been killed and many injured in the firing.
In yet another video, there are pictures showing several injured youth with one of them saying that he was injured when the security forces fired live ammunition at the protesters. He lamented that the security forces were using bullets purchased from taxes the PoJK people have paid to kill them.
PML-N ahead in poll race as it gets 9/13 seats
Meanwhile, the Pakistan Muslim League-N grabbed nine out of the 13 constituencies of Pakistan-occupied Jammu Kashmir’s (PoJK) Mirpur division in Monday’s elections, preliminary results issued by the Election Commission showed on Tuesday. Polls are being held in three phases over security concerns, with the first set of polls held in Mirpur division on Monday. Scuffles, violence and allegations of widespread rigging had marred the polling process, with the PML-N and PPP accusing each other of electoral malpractice.
It needs to be mentioned here that former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan’s Tehreek Insaf (PTI) has boycotted these elections, saying free or fair elections were not possible in the present circumstances. Participation in any electoral activity can only help vote thieves and parties which have stolen them, it said before the elections.
Over 100 killed since June 5 violence
According to PTI statements, over 100 people have been killed during violent clashes in PoJK following last month’s JAAC protests that paralysed life in the region since June 5. The JAAC had called for a mass protest on June 9 but days earlier, one of its workers was killed in Rawalakot and things spun out of control. The next day, the JAAC was banned with many of its leaders and workers being arrested.
Besides PTI, Joint Awami Action Committee (JAAC), which has been leading a massive agitation in the PoJK region, is out of the electoral politics as it has been banned as a terrorist organisation. In the absence of PTI and JAAC, these elections have lost credibility and whichever party may form the government, it will lack legitimacy, according to political observers.
According to preliminary results issued by the AJK Election Commission (Forms-26 and Forms-27), the PML-N emerged as the winner in nine constituencies, while the PPP could secure only four seats. Form-27 lists cumulative results based on votes cast on the polling day and by the election staff in advance polling. Form-26 comprises only the ballots cast on the main polling day, July 27, in this case, according to a Dawn report.
PML-N, PPP trade charges, blows
Following an intense election campaign by both parties in the run-up to the polls, the PML-N emerged victorious in Mirpur district’s Dadyal and Khari Sharif; Bhimber district’s Barnala, Samahni and Bhimber; and Kotli district’s Nakyal, Sehnsa, Charhoi and Khuiratta, according to unofficial results.
Meanwhile, the PPP secured the key city of Mirpur, as well as the district’s Chakswari, along with two seats in Kotli. In LA-1 (Mirpur-I), PML-N’s Azhar Sadiq was successful with 15,427 votes, while his opponent Muhammad Afzal Shahid trailed with 9,832 votes, Form-27 results issued by the Election Commission showed.
PPP won the LA-2 (Mirpur-II) seat, with its candidate Qasim Majeed securing 13,378 votes, according to Form-27. The PPP and PML-N had a close contest in LA-3 (Mirpur-III), with the former’s Yasir Sultan emerging as the winner with 12,590 votes while his opponent grabbed 11,081 votes.
In LA-4 (Mirpur-IV), PML-N’s Chaudhry Rukhsar Ahmed won with 22,376 votes, while PPP’s Sohaib Arshad was the runner-up with 15,851 votes, Form-27 showed. Barnala’s LA-5 (Bhimber-I) seat also saw a close contest between PML-N’s Waqar Ahmed Noor and PPP’s Chaudhry Parvaiz Ashraf. Noor won with 30,259 ballots cast in his favour, and Ashraf trailed with 29,574 votes.
PML-N’s Chaudhry Razzaq won in Samahni’s LA-6, unofficial results said. In LA-7 (Bhimber-III), PML-N’s Tariq Farooq won with a comfortable margin, securing 37,613 votes, while former AJK PM Chaudhry Anwarul Haq was the runner-up with 25,534 votes, Form-26 showed.
PPP’s Zafar Iqbal was the winner in LA-8 (Kotli-I) with 19,535 votes, while the party’s AJK chapter president Chaudhry Yasin won the LA-10 (Kotli-III) seat with 12,358 ballots in his favour. On the other hand, PML-N’s Umair Naeem secured Nakyal’s LA-9 (Kotli-II) constituency, where the polling process had turned violent on Monday.
Naeem had a close contest with PPP’s Javed Budhanvi, with the PML-N leader winning over 30,000 votes and Budhanvi grabbing 28,309 votes. PML-N’s Raja Asif grabbed the LA-11 (Kotli-IV) seat in Sehnsa, and its leader Raja Riasat Khan won LA-12 (Kotli-V), based on unofficial results. PML-N candidate Raja Ayyaz Ahmad secured victory in LA-13 (Kotli-VI), having secured 12,008 votes.
Next phases of elections on August 2 & 10
The second and third phases of the elections are scheduled for August 2 and August 10 in nine constituencies of Muzaffarabad division and all 12 refugee constituencies, and 11 constituencies of Poonch division, respectively.
In his remarks on Monday night, the Chief Election Commissioner termed these polls “the most difficult” in the history of AJK, for reasons that “everyone is aware of”. While one or two isolated incidents do occur during elections, political parties often misrepresent them by blowing those occurrences out of proportion, without investigating them, he said.
Earlier, at least five persons were killed and several others injured during violent clashes on Monday on the polling day of the first phase of elections for the so-called legislative assembly in Pakistan-occupied Jammu Kashmir (PoJK). India has consistently maintained that Pakistan has been in illegal possession of large parts of the Union Territories of Ladakh and Jammu & Kashmir.
“Our party worker, Mukhtar Yunus, was killed and two others injured during incidents of firing by the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) candidates,” the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) said in a statement. PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari expressed his grief over the death. “Where are the relevant authorities? What is the Election Commission doing?” he asked.
The elections for 53 seats, originally scheduled in one go for July 27, are being held in three phases from July 27 to August 10. Of these 53 seats, direct elections are held for 45 segments, while eight seats are reserved for women, technocrats and clerics.
Both the PPP and PML-N accused each other of rigging in multiple constituencies. The electoral process was also briefly interrupted at some polling stations following scuffles and heated exchanges between supporters of rival political parties.
The JAAC’s main demand has been the abolition of the 12 refugee seats but the Federal government led by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, however, refused to accept its demand. These 12 refugee seats are used by the ruling parties at the Federal level to manipulate
Dozens of people, including security men, were killed in the violence, following which the government last month banned the JAAC. Meanwhile, India has described the protests in PoJK as a “direct consequence” of Islamabad’s decades-long “systemic exploitation and administrative oppression” in areas under its “forcible” occupation and criticised reported police brutality on the protesters.
