A British nationwide was shot useless by Pakistani safety forces in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (POK) throughout a conflict with protesters. In the meantime, one other British citizen has been detained in a jail in Mirpur for greater than two months amid the continued unrest within the area illegally occupied by Pakistan.
The killings and detentions come because the Indian area, illegally occupied by Pakistan since 1948, has been engulfed in protests for month led by the outlawed Joint Awami Motion Committee (JAAC), with demonstrators demanding financial aid and better political illustration.
Mohammad Akhtar, a resident of Peterborough (a metropolis 119 km north of London), was killed on June 9 whereas he was in Kotli, close to the world the place large-scale clashes had erupted between Pakistani forces and protesters, in response to a report within the London-based newspaper The Guardian on Monday (August 10).
Fifty-year-old Akhtar’s household instructed the newspaper that Pakistani safety forces opened hearth on a gathering of protesters demanding financial and electoral reforms in POK. The household alleged that Akhtar’s loss of life was attributable to the firing by the forces.
Akhtar’s cousin Mohammad Saad mentioned that the UK nationwide was in Kotli however was not collaborating within the demonstrations. He was struck by a stray bullet close to his dwelling.
“There was firing by the forces that day, and he [Akhtar] was hit by a stray bullet,” Saad instructed The Guardian, including that his cousin Akhtar suffered a bullet wound to the facet of his chest.
The household didn’t pursue the matter with British authorities, Saad mentioned, after they have been unable to register a police criticism in POK and feared they might be focused if the case acquired additional consideration.
BRITISH NATIONAL IMPRISONED IN POK SINCE JUNE
One other British nationwide, Waqas Arif from the town of Nottingham, has been in a jail in Mirpur for greater than two months after being detained following protests on June 5, in response to The Guardian.
Arif’s household instructed The Guardian that he had not participated within the demonstrations. His sister Sumera alleged that Pakistani safety forces and Rangers entered their dwelling and detained her brother.
“There isn’t any cost. He hasn’t achieved something,” she mentioned, including that she believed many others had additionally been imprisoned in an effort to weaken the protests.
Arif’s spouse, Varisha Kampulvi, mentioned British authorities had been unable to determine direct contact with him since his detention.
An e-mail on June 26 from the UK’s International Workplace to Kampulvi mentioned consular employees had contacted Pakistani officers on the jail and had been instructed that Arif was in good well being, though that they had not been capable of converse to him instantly.
POK ENGULFED BY PROTESTS SINCE JUNE
The killing of a British citizen and the continued incarceration of one other comes amid a wider crackdown by Pakistani authorities in opposition to supporters of the Joint Awami Motion Committee (JAAC), a civil society group that has led protests in POK demanding financial and political reforms.
In response to studies, almost 90 protesters have been killed by Pakistani safety personnel in its illegally occupied territory.
The agitation, spearheaded by the JAAC, initially targeted on calls for for aid from excessive electrical energy tariffs and elevated allocations of subsidised flour. It has since expanded to include a call for scrapping the reservation of 12 seats in POK’s so-called Meeting for refugees from Kashmir and are settled in Pakistan.
Whereas protests have waxed and waned since June, the POK has witnessed contemporary demonstrations and violence for the reason that three-phased polls started on July 27. India’s Ministry of Exterior Affairs has described the elections within the area illegally occupied by Pakistan as a “complete farce” and criticised Islamabad’s heavy-handed response, together with the liberal use of violence to suppress the rising unrest.
Pakistani authorities have designated the JAAC as a terrorist organisation. The hybrid regime’s Prime Minister, Shehbaz Sharif, has nonetheless indicated that Islamabad remains open to talks with the JAAC.
UK, UN EXPRESS CONCERNS ON POK VIOLENCE
The UK’s International, Commonwealth & Improvement Workplace (FCDO) was quoted by The Guardian as saying that it was “deeply involved” in regards to the state of affairs in elements of POK, including that British ministers and the UK Excessive Commissioner in Islamabad have been involved with their Pakistani counterparts.
The Guardian reported that former International Workplace minister Hamish Falconer raised the state of affairs in POK throughout talks in Islamabad in June, whereas present International Workplace minister Stephen Doughty has additionally been involved with Pakistani officers.
Additionally in June, information company PTI reported that not less than 30 British MPs had written to the British government to “interact proactively and use all applicable diplomatic channels to encourage de-escalation and a peaceable decision” of the state of affairs.
In the meantime, the United Nations (UN) Deputy Spokesperson for Secretary-Normal Farhan Haq mentioned that the UN Secretary-Normal Antonio Guterres supported the work of UN Excessive Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk and hoped his appeals relating to the state of affairs can be heeded.
Turk had, on July 17, expressed concern over the developments in POK and known as for an neutral and thorough investigation into the deaths of protesters, Pakistan’s ban on the JAAC, and the arrest of its leaders. In an announcement issued in Geneva final month, Turk additionally appealed for calm forward of the so-called elections on the finish of July.
The escalating crackdown by safety forces in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir has focused not solely protesters but additionally international nationals who weren’t concerned within the agitation.
– Ends
