MUZAFFARABAD, PoJK: Clashes in Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir ahead of a protest planned for June 9 left 11 people dead and more than 70 injured.
Police and paramilitary forces were trying to break up a group of protesters linked to a banned alliance of civil society groups.
Police said members of the Joint Awami Action Committee (JAAC), which campaigns for economic and political rights, had gathered outside a hospital morgue. They were there after the body of another member was brought in following his death in police firing.
Sardar Waheed Khan, commissioner of the Poonch sector, said four police officers and a passerby were killed when attackers opened fire. He added that six protesters died when security forces responded.
Police Chief Liaqat Malik said that 23 security personnel and 50 protesters were among those injured in the violence on June 7. He also said 30 suspects had been arrested in the Himalayan region, which is a sensitive area near India.
JAAC leader Shaukat Nawaz Mir, in a video message on X, accused the state of carrying out a "massacre" in Rawalakot, where the clashes took place. He said the group would remain united and go ahead with a planned shutdown on June 9.
However, Khan rejected this claim, saying the leadership was misleading people and that the action was taken to restore law and order. He also said that when security forces tried to disperse the crowd, some protesters used automatic rifles, petrol bombs, and other weapons against them.
The JAAC had called for the strike to protest the reservation of 12 seats for refugees in the July 27 elections for the region's legislative assembly, in which 45 seats are being contested.
The group is demanding that these reserved seats be removed, arguing that they are being contested by candidates who do not live in Kashmir but in other parts of Pakistan.
Late last week, the regional government declared the JAAC a banned organization under anti-terror laws and advised both local and foreign tourists to leave the area before June 9.
In the past two years, large protests led by the JAAC over rising prices of flour and electricity have also turned violent, with deadly clashes between its supporters and security forces.
