Residents protesting in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (ANI/Twitter)Residents of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) are protesting against the Government of Pakistan and the army, forcing them to stop firing across the border in India, reports ANI. A protest rally led by the Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) and other parties from Tetri Mor to Mazarpur was baton charged and fired upon by the local police. The protesters then retaliated by setting fire to army posts in the area.
Residents of Muzzafarabad also carried out protests against Army brutality. Activist Mir Zafar Suleria said that Pakistani intelligence agencies were not allowing any protests near the border against firing of mortar shells. He further said that the army was using locals as human shields, and using their houses to fire at India. The resulting return fire would then destroy those home, giving rise to a huge number of casualties, he added.
For the past 70 years, the army claims to be here for our protection, but why are they using us as shields to carry out attacks. It shows that the government is deliberately wanting people to die so that they get a chance to promote their propaganda. We condemn it and nationalists in PoK are united in launching a protest against the Pakistan and PoK governments.Mir Zafar Suleria
Suleria also claimed that Farooq Haider Khan, Prime Minister of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir was deliberately using civillians as human shields, stating that he wanted India to fire at civillians to further the army’s propaganda.
Protests were held on 16 March earlier in Poonch when two activists were killed by police firing.
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