ISLAMABAD: A large number of people held a sit-in protest at D-Chowk in Rawalkot of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) on Sunday and prepared to start a peaceful long march towards Muzaffarabad.
According to a statement released by the Joint Awami Action Committee (JAAC), security forces have been carrying out intermittent heavy firing. The JAAC said that women and children were holding a protest sit-in at Dreak, and it will continue until the demands of the movement are acted upon. The protesters shouted slogans like "Aawaz do hum ek hai, Kashmir ke pahadon mein hum ek hai."
While sharing visuals from the protest site on X, the JAAC said: "Rawalakot: At D-Chowk, the public is staging a temporary sit-in protest, and a peaceful long march toward Muzaffarabad could commence at any time—security forces are carrying out intermittent heavy firing. However, no martyrdoms have been reported in Rawalakot."
"At Dreak, where a protest sit-in was held for 50 days, women and children are now maintaining the sit-in, and it will continue until the movement’s recognised demands are acted upon. The Kashmiri people, united as one nation, have resolved that under no circumstances will they betray the blood of their martyrs," it added.
On Saturday, JAAC member Sardar Umar Nazir Kashmiri said that more than 50 people have been killed and hundreds injured over the past four days in a brutal crackdown by Pakistani forces in PoK.
In a post on X, he said: "In the past 4 days, the forces have killed more than 50 of our people through brutal terrorism, and hundreds are injured…"
In another post on X, the JAAC said that late-night protests continued across the Muzaffarabad region in PoK, with people remaining on the streets, while demanding the protection of their fundamental rights and the implementation of commitments made by the local authorities.
In recent days, several videos posted on various social media handles, including that of the JAAC, have shown the brutality of Pakistani forces in PoK. Videos shared on social media also showed women protesters running desperately to save their lives as local police unleashed terror and opened fire on a peaceful protest rally in PoK's Kotli.
Meanwhile, a delegation of United Kashmir People's National Party (UKPNP) led by its Chairman Sardar Shaukat Ali Kashmiri held a series of meetings at the United Nations Headquarters in New York to brief the UN officials about the brutalities committed by Pakistani forces in PoK.
During these meetings, the delegation expressed grave concern over the deteriorating human rights situation in PoK. It urged the UN, the international community, governments, human rights organisations, and democratic institutions "to take prompt and effective action to prevent further loss of life and protect fundamental human rights" in the region.
The delegation called on Pakistani authorities to exercise maximum restraint and immediately cease all excessive, direct, or lethal force against peaceful protesters in PoK, placing the protection of civilian lives above all other considerations.
It further urged the authorities to unconditionally hand over the bodies of all civilians killed during the unrest to their families, disclose the whereabouts of all individuals subjected to enforced disappearance or unacknowledged detention and release those “unlawfully” detained by Pakistani forces.
--IANS
