After an alleged armed clash early Thursday morning between law enforcement agencies and workers of the recently banned Jammu Kashmir Awami Action Committee in Rawalakot, a city in Pakistan-administered Kashmir, the district administration has imposed a ban on gatherings of two or more people in the city and issued instructions to citizens to remain cautious.
According to local journalists, the situation in the city has been tense since the operation carried out to remove protesters from the bus terminal.
A senior district administration official said the bus terminal area is now under the control of law enforcement agencies; however, a few protesters remain at D-Chowk in Rawalakot.
Awami Action Committee requested all friends to note that all houses around the bus terminal are under the control of forces. According to local sources present there, videos are being made to prepare propaganda by flying drones and by putting weapons in the hands of forces in civilian clothes. And in the evening, those same videos will be run on social media to do propaganda against the Kashmir Joint Awami Action Committee.
Emergency situation in Rawalakot, announcements from mosques urging people to reach the sit-in. According to reports in Rawalakot, through mosques, people are being appealed to reach the sit-in as soon as possible.
Local sources claim that security forces are preparing for a major operation, while due to limited media coverage in the area, the situation is still unclear; eight people were killed on the spot and 31 others are badly injured. Further details are awaited.
Intense firing by Pakistani forces is ongoing on the participants of the sit-in at Umar Farooq Chowk Rawalakot, on ordinary unarmed civilians.
Pakistani Kashmiri Ilyas has said that in history, despite decades of ongoing oppression in Indian-occupied Kashmir by India, even the Indian Army did not carry out drone attacks and rocket fire on the houses of the civilian population in this manner, as this Pakistani Punjabi army is doing in Rawalakot.
The police of Poonch Division have confirmed that in the clashes between protesters and security agencies at the Rawalakot bus terminal on Thursday morning, a few personnel of law enforcement agencies were injured, details of which will be presented soon.
The Awami Action Committee, alleging the killing of three people in these clashes, said that they are present in protest at D-Chowk in Rawalakot along with the dead bodies.
Although government officials have not confirmed any deaths in the operation that took place on
Thursday morning, a statement issued by the Poonch Division police said that there are reports of a few ‘armed miscreants’ among the protesters being injured in the retaliatory action by law enforcement agencies.
In a press release issued from the office of the Deputy Inspector General of Police (Poonch Region), it has been claimed that ‘to remove illegal blockades established on public routes near Rawalakot bus terminal and to restore the movement of citizens, law enforcement agencies took necessary measures, during which armed persons among the protesters opened fire on the police, as a result of which the police had to take retaliatory action.
On the other hand, Abid Shaheen, a member of the banned Jammu Kashmir Awami Action Committee, claimed, that security forces carried out an operation early in the morning to vacate the Rawalakot bus terminal from protesters and allegedly opened direct fire on the workers, as a result of which three people were killed while several were injured.
So far, officials have not confirmed the number of deaths or injuries. Abid Shaheen claimed that their workers in the area are still being targeted. He said that although the security forces currently have control over the bus terminal, the workers of his party are present in the vicinity of this area.
An official of the district administration said that law enforcement agencies had started the operation at around five o’clock on Thursday morning, which continued for two and a half hours.
He claimed that control of the Rawalakot bus terminal area has been taken and during this operation, there was also an exchange of fire between law enforcement agencies and workers of the organisation.
It should be remembered that workers of the Awami Action Committee have been staging a sit-in in this area for the past five months in support of their demands, and according to the administration, due to this situation, traffic coming from Rawalpindi to Rawalakot remains disrupted.
The Awami Committee claimed that ‘baseless and misleading propaganda’ is being done on social media regarding the incident that occurred on Thursday morning and ‘fabricated rumors contrary to facts’ are being spread, the purpose of which is to create misunderstanding about the Awami Action Committee.
In a press release issued by the Poonch district administration, citizens have been warned that ‘firing is being done on forces by miscreants’; therefore, citizens should keep themselves and their children confined to their homes and should not give shelter to any stranger in their homes. According to the administration, Section 144 has now been imposed in the city.
Explaining, the district administration officer said that under Section 144, the administration can restrict the gathering of five or more persons, meaning it can limit the number, and therefore the district administration has imposed a ban on the gathering of two or more persons.
On the other hand, in a notification issued by the District Magistrate (Bagh), citizens have been instructed to deposit all illegal weapons with the government and to present licensed weapons for inspection. In a statement, a ten-day deadline has been given to complete this action. Officials say that after this, action will be taken against those who do not follow the instructions.
By- Laiba yousafzai
