Two people were killed and nine others seriously injured as Pakistan-occupied Jammu Kashmir’s Rawalakot witnessed another round of violence on Sunday. Pakistani Rangers and Army personnel fired both rubber bullets and AK-47 rounds at protesters in two separate 20-minute-long firing incidents. The first firing took place at around 4 am when protesters had gathered on a road near Eidgah Ground to offer prayers. Following the firing, protesters were seen running towards Eidgah Ground.
A second round of firing began at around 7 am, when Pakistani Army and Rangers personnel opened fire on protesters assembled at Eidgah Ground. One of those killed was a protester from Mirpur, while the other was a resident of Rawalakot. ABP News has obtained multiple videos and photographs from the incident and its aftermath. The visuals show spent bullet casings and visible bloodstains at the site. Separate footage from the early morning firing at around 4 a.m. shows protesters fleeing the area as bursts of AK-47 gunfire can be clearly heard in the background.
The protest movement which has continued since June 9 has so far resulted in 55 deaths in firing incidents involving Pakistani Army and Rangers personnel, according to the information available from the protest movement. The demonstrations are centred around 38 demands, with negotiations deadlocked over two key issues. The first is changing the oath taken by elected leaders in Pakistan-occupied Jammu Kashmir, while the second relates to the abolition of 12 so-called refugee seats.
Protesters are demanding that the existing oath — under which elected members, prime ministers, and ministers pledge loyalty to Pakistan and the merger of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir with Pakistan — be replaced. They want elected representatives to instead pledge loyalty to the geographical unity and territorial integrity of the State of Jammu and Kashmir. The second demand seeks the abolition of 12 so-called refugee seats, which are used by the Pakistani establishment and the ISI to influence political outcomes and install compliant governments in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.
However, the Pakistani government and military view these demands as a challenge to Pakistan’s illegal occupation of the territory. As a result, both sides remain unwilling to compromise, and the standoff continues. The Awami Action Committee has been declared a terrorist organisation. Four prominent protest leaders, Shaukat Nawaz Mir, Sardar Umar Nazir, Khawaja Mehran, and Sardar Aman Khan, have been charged with sedition and rioting. The Pakistani government has also announced a bounty of 10 million Pakistani rupees on each of them.
