‘Hope Pakistan held accountable’: India reacts after 11 killed in Occupied Kashmir
Here's the thing, India-Pakistan tension is always exam-relevant. After 11 people were reportedly killed in clashes with police in Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir, New Delhi hit out at Islamabad and said it hopes the world holds Pakistan accountable for its abuses. MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said there's a pattern of fake news from Pakistan trying to cover up its own failings, and reports of severe police brutality in PoK. The clashes broke out ahead of a protest by a banned alliance, leaving nearly 70 injured. Bottom line for the exam, remember the term Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir and India's consistent line on human rights abuses there.
Hours after 11 people were reportedly killed in clashes with police in Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir (PoK), New Delhi criticised Islamabad and said it hoped the international community will hold the country “accountable for its misdeeds and abuses”.
During a press briefing Tuesday, MEA Spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said: “We continue to see in this context, a pattern of fake news and videos emanating from Pakistan. It is a desperate attempt by Pakistan to cover up its own failings and deflect attention away from its human rights abuses. There are reports of severe police brutality in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, in which several people have been killed and many injured. We hope the international community will hold Pakistan accountable for its misdeeds and abuses…”.
The clashes in PoK ahead of a protest called for Tuesday left 11 people dead and nearly 70 others injured as paramilitary forces tried to scatter a group of protesters from a banned alliance of civil society groups.
Police said the protesters of the Joint Awami Action Committee (JAAC) had gathered outside a hospital morgue where the body of another group member was taken after his death in firing by police.
“Four police officers and a passerby died after miscreants shot at them,” Sardar Waheed Khan, commissioner of the Poonch sector in the region, told Reuters, adding, “As the result of the law enforcers’ response, six protesters were killed.”
Police Chief Liaqat Malik said 23 security officials and 50 protesters were among the injured in Sunday’s incident, with 30 offenders arrested in the Himalayan region that is a flashpoint with neighbouring India.
“The state has begun a massacre of our people in Rawalakot,” Shaukat Nawaz Mir, a JAAC leader, said in a video message on X, referring to the district where the incident happened. He vowed that the group would stay united to ensure the June 9 lockdown.
In response, Khan said, “The JAAC leadership is misleading the masses by terming it a massacre. The state’s action was meant to restore law and order.”
When security forces tried to disperse the protesters, the group’s activists used automatic rifles, petrol bombs and other weapons to target them, he added.
The JAAC called the strike to protest against the reservation of 12 seats for refugees in July 27 elections to the region’s legislative body, out of 45 up for grabs.
The alliance is demanding abolition of the reserved seats in the Azad Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly, which are being contested by candidates who do not live in Kashmir, but elsewhere in Pakistan.
On Friday, the regional government designated the JAAC a proscribed group under an anti-terror law, and advised domestic and foreign tourists to leave the region before June 9.