Rawalakot (Pakistan-occupied Jammu Kashmir), June 8: Pakistani forces have killed over 200 and injured thousands others in a brutal operation against a peaceful protest by people of occupied Jammu and Kashmir, igniting further outrage among the locals who have vowed to carry on with their agitation against Pakistan’s rule.
The killed even include a Kashmiri Superintendent of Police and a few other local police personnel who tried to dissuade the Pakistani military personnel from using disproportionate force against the peaceful protesters raising voice against the Pakistani atrocities, according to local journalists.
The Pakistani military, who have freshly-arrived from Pakistan in large numbers, are engaged in eliminating the evidence about the huge number of killings by disposing off bodies of those killed, a local journalist said.
According to various people, including journalists, at least 200 Kashmiris have been killed and thousands injured in firing by Pakistani military personnel in various parts of Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir (PoJK).
The Pakistani military has also been raiding residences of civilians.
Womenfolk have come out openly, complaining about the sexual harassment meted out to them.
Rawalakot has been the worst affected as the biggest number of casualties have occurred in this town.
Hospitals have been overwhelmed with the dead and injured civilians and burial grounds are busy because of the increasing killings by the occupation forces.
The situation is so alarming that Showkat Nawaz, the leader of Joint Awami Action Committee (JAAC) which is spearheading the agitation, is appealing to Kashmiris all around the world to amplify the plight of their brethren in Pakistan-occupied territories of Jammu and Kashmir.
Protests are being organised across the PoJK to express resentment against the atrocities and humiliation being meted out to the people of the occupied region by Pakistan.
Joint Awami Action Committee (JAAC), a conglomerate of various Kashmiri organisations, had given a call for an indefinite agitation to press Pakistan to end its interference in the affairs of PoJK, besides other things.
Although the protest was to start tomorrow as per the original call, it started early as Pakistan launched a brutal crackdown on the members and supporters of JAAC by arresting and raiding residential places.
JAAC had declared that the agitation would be peaceful from their side.
At the same time, their members had warned that if Pakistani State resorted to force, the protesters would not behave like “(Mahatma) Gandhi”.
“We want to be so peaceful that even a flower pot will not be broken by us. But we will not behave like Gandhi that anyone can hit us and get away… We will teach them a lesson,” said a leader of the protest at a public meeting in Rawalakot amid cheers from the crowd.
As apprehended by the organisers of the agitation, thousands of Pakistani military personnel tried to crush the protest and chase away the participants.
But the dare-devil protesters refused to obey and stood their ground all over PoJK.
The Pakistani forces resorted to large-scale firing, including direct shooting at the protesters, and it resulted in the killing and wounding of several agitationists.
Summing up the developments, JAAC said in a social media post last night: “Today, when tear gas and bullets rained down on the resolute people staging a sit-in, instead of fleeing, they became even more steadfast. The skies of Rawalakot echoed not with fear, but with chants of revolution. Salute to that courage, that determination and that fearlessness.” (NVI)
