Muzaffarabad: Pakistani forces allegedly opened fire on civilians at Rawalakot in Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir (PoJK), killing an executive member of the Jammu and Kashmir Awami Action Committee (JAAC), identified as Shahzaib Habib.
Several others were injured in the firing that took place near the Khaigla Burma Bridge.
Habib’s body was placed outside the Command Military Hospital in Rawalakot, triggering protests and public outrage in the region, as reported by timesnow.in.
Authorities reportedly detained several top leaders linked to the protests in a late night crackdown, deepening tensions. The incident has sparked widespread anger, with demonstrators demanding accountability and justice for the killing.
Telecom and internet services has been suspended and additional number of Pakistan Federal Police and Pakistan Rangers have started reaching Muzaffarabad ahead of the protest march announced by JAAC on June 9.
Tourists have also been asked by the authorities to leave the territory, and not plan their trips until June 20.
A massive protest has been announced by JAAC, which has been demanding the abolishing of 12 seats in the region’s Legislative Assembly that are reserved for people who are settled in the area illegally occupied by Pakistan after 1947.
These seats are frequently used by mainstream Pakistani political parties to influence the formation of governments in Muzaffarabad, JAAC has alleged.
The home department of PoJK has banned JAAC and declared it a proscribed organisation under the country’s Anti-Terrorism Act 2014. The organisation has been accused of engaging in anti-state activities.
India, meanwhile, lodged a strong protest with Pakistan over Islamabad’s plans to hold general elections to the so called Gilgit-Baltistan Assembly, maintaining that the region is Indian territory that has been “illegally and forcibly” occupied.
Such endeavours by Pakistan cannot “mask” the underlying issues of “grave” human rights violations, political repression, economic exploitation and denial of freedom in the territories illegally occupied by Pakistan, New Delhi asserted.
“The government of India lodged a strong protest with Pakistan regarding the latter’s plans to hold ‘general Elections’ to the so-called ‘Gilgit-Baltistan Assembly’, in the Indian territories illegally and forcibly occupied by Pakistan, scheduled for June 7,” the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said.
