RAWALAKOT: Security forces have said that they have cleared a bus terminal in Rawalakot in Azad Jammu and Kashmir on Thursday after an early-morning operation against protesters who had ‘occupied’ the area for around five months, with police and protesters reporting injuries following an exchange of fire.
Poonch police said that law enforcement agencies moved to remove what they described as illegal barricades from public roads near the Rawalakot bus terminal and restore the movement of citizens.
Police claimed that armed individuals among the protesters opened fire on security personnel during the operation, prompting what it described as retaliatory firing.
Several law enforcement personnel were injured, police said, adding that there were also reports of injuries among some armed protesters.
The operation came amid a prolonged standoff between authorities and activists linked to the proscribed Jammu Kashmir Joint Awami Action Committee (JAAC), whose supporters had maintained a sit-in in and around Rawalakot for months.
A member of the committee’s core leadership, Abid Shaheen, told BBC Urdu that security forces launched the operation before dawn to clear the bus terminal and alleged that personnel fired directly at protesters, leaving several activists injured.
The claims could not be independently verified.
A district administration official told BBC Urdu that law enforcement agencies had taken control of the bus terminal area after an operation that lasted about two hours. The official said there had been an exchange of fire between security forces and members of the organisation.
The official said the authorities had received reports that some activists were injured but said the exact number could not immediately be confirmed because the injured had not been taken to hospital.
The police account differed from that of the district administration official on injuries among security personnel. Poonch police said some law enforcement personnel were wounded during the operation, while the administration official told BBC Urdu that no security official had been injured.
Police said that social media was circulating what it called ‘baseless and misleading propaganda’ about Thursday’s incident and accused those spreading unverified reports of attempting to create fear and further inflame tensions.
Authorities said the bus terminal and surrounding area had been cleared and security arrangements strengthened. Additional personnel remained deployed, they said.
The administration official also said that action was continuing towards Rawalakot’s D-Chowk area, although the advance by law enforcement agencies had temporarily stopped.
Five-month sit-in
Thursday’s operation marked the latest and most significant attempt by authorities to end a protest that had continued in Rawalakot for about five months.
Supporters of the banned JAAC had maintained sit-ins at various locations in and around Rawalakot as part of a wider protest movement that intensified in June.
The bus terminal protest disrupted the main route used by traffic travelling between Rawalpindi and Rawalakot, according to officials and protest organisers.
The current phase of unrest began in early June, when the protest movement renewed its campaign for the implementation of a broader charter of demands and commitments that protesters said had not been fulfilled by the authorities.
The committee, which emerged as a major force in protests over economic hardship and governance issues in Azad Jammu and Kashmir, had earlier mobilised large demonstrations over the rising cost of electricity and essential commodities.
Its demands subsequently expanded to include political and constitutional issues.
Among the key demands raised by the movement have been relief from high electricity costs, action against inflation and unemployment, greater employment opportunities, improved access to basic public services and what the committee describes as the protection of fundamental rights.
A major political demand has been the abolition of 12 seats in the Azad Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly reserved for refugees from Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir who are settled in Pakistan.
The committee has also called for the abolition of what it describes as privileges enjoyed by the ruling elite and for broader reforms to the region’s governance and political representation.
In June, the AJK government declared the JAAC a proscribed organisation, while authorities accused some members of involvement in violence and attacks on law enforcement personnel.
The committee has rejected such accusations and maintained that its movement is aimed at securing what it calls the fundamental rights of the people of the region.
The standoff has repeatedly turned violent. Clashes between protesters and security forces in Rawalakot and other parts of AJK during the current phase of unrest have resulted in deaths and injuries on both sides.
The latest operation was also carried out against the backdrop of earlier violence in Rawalakot, including clashes near the Combined Military Hospital, where several people, including police personnel, were killed in earlier confrontations.
Police and the authorities have accused armed elements within the proscribed organisation of firing on security personnel and blocking roads, while activists have accused security forces of using excessive force against protesters.
Thursday’s operation has now ended the months-long occupation of the Rawalakot bus terminal, but the wider confrontation between the authorities and the protest movement remains unresolved.
The committee has continued to insist on the implementation of its charter of demands, while authorities have maintained that they will not allow armed resistance, road blockades or disruption of public life.
The latest developments remain subject to conflicting accounts, and the number of people injured in Thursday’s operation could not immediately be independently confirmed.
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