Deadly crackdown on months-long protest sit-in in Rawalakot as casualty reports conflict
Security forces moved to clear the Joint Awami Action Committee's months-long sit-in in Rawalakot early on Thursday, with protest groups reporting several deaths and injuries, though the toll remains unverified and police have confirmed no deaths.
Security forces moved against the months-long protest sit-in in Rawalakot early on Thursday, 5 November, clearing camps maintained by the Joint Awami Action Committee (JAAC) in the Azad Jammu and Kashmir city and triggering reports of deaths and injuries that remain sharply disputed. The operation, which began at about 6.00 am at sites including the Matiyal Mara bus terminal and D-Chowk, is the most serious escalation yet in a protest movement that has been running since early June.
The casualty figures reported during the day varied widely and none has been independently verified. The JAAC said three protesters were killed and between 18 and 21 people were injured. The United Kashmir People's National Party (UKPNP), citing information it had received, said at least seven people, including children, were killed and 18 others seriously injured. India TV, meanwhile, reported 18 deaths, including four children. Police, for their part, have confirmed no deaths at all.
Three of the dead were named in several reports as Atif Jardees, 35, Ehtisham Younis, 30, and Adil Rashid, 32. A local journalist cited by Kashmiri media reported a fourth victim, Ahsan Tariq of Nanota, and a fifth person whose identity had not been established. Reporting that cited Dawn's coverage of the incident put the toll higher still, at seven civilians and four law-enforcement personnel killed, with 23 police officers injured.
The JAAC accused security forces of surrounding the protest camps from several directions and attacking them with drones and heavy weapons. Its leaders said a house near the bus terminal was destroyed by fire after an alleged drone strike, and one JAAC leader displayed what he described as recovered bomb fragments, saying they came from a military drone attack on civilian homes. Police maintained a very different account: they said armed individuals opened fire on officers who were trying to remove barricades and restore public access, that several officers were injured, and that video showed protesters carrying automatic weapons and a grenade launcher. The claims on both sides could not be independently established.
Residents and protest leaders also reported that internet and telephone services were suspended in Rawalakot and that electricity was cut in parts of the area as the operation unfolded. Large numbers of people from Rawalakot and surrounding areas were reported to have begun gathering at the Eidgah protest site later in the day, raising concern about further confrontation.
The sit-in cleared on Thursday had been in place for around five months, since early June, when the JAAC began a sustained campaign over a 38-point charter of demands. The movement began over the cost of flour and other essential goods and high electricity prices, and grew into a wider campaign covering governance, political representation and greater regional autonomy. One of its most contentious demands concerns the 12 seats in the Azad Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly reserved for people of Kashmiri origin living in Pakistan.
The regional government has since declared the JAAC an outlawed organisation, a step that has drawn international scrutiny. Six United Nations special rapporteurs on human rights recently raised concerns with the Pakistani government over the designation, questioning the reported use of counter-terrorism measures against the committee and people associated with it, and suggesting the listing may have been retaliation for political, labour and human rights advocacy.
Reaction to Thursday's operation was swift. The JAAC condemned the reported killings and demanded an immediate, independent international investigation, the prosecution of those responsible and unrestricted access for international media and human rights organisations. The Human Rights Council of Pakistan expressed grave concern over the reported civilian deaths and called for patience, responsibility and respect for the right to peaceful protest.
The wider human cost of the unrest is also disputed. Some protest leaders and residents have claimed that more than 150 people have been killed in the wider crackdown since the movement began, while open-source tallies cited in reporting put the death toll across the region at 153 since 7 June. Neither figure has been independently verified, and no breakdown of the earlier deaths has been published.
As of Thursday evening, no official statement had been issued by the government on the operation, the casualties or the alleged drone strikes. With the camps cleared, the sit-in broken and supporters regrouping, the immediate question is whether the authorities will publish a verified account of what happened in Rawalakot, and whether the JAAC's supporters will return to the streets in the coming days.
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