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A violent clash broke out between the police and people from the Dadyal area of Pakistan-Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (PoJK) on Thursday which left several injured.
The protesters were gathered to follow up on the May 11 protest against skyrocketing inflation and load shedding. Pakistan police subsequently implemented Section 144 in the region. In response to the clash, enraged protesters said they would hold their demonstration on Friday instead of May 11 and also assaulted a Pakistan police constable. Prior to this escalation, the protesters had warned the Pakistani authorities against resorting to violence. Shaukat Navaz Mir, a local leader and chairman of the PoJK traders' association, declared a general strike across PoJK starting at midnight, denouncing the defense forces' violent actions. Meanwhile, speaking to ANI, political activist Amjad Ayub Mirza condemned the incident, emphasizing that violence against peaceful protesters in PoJK is intolerable. He also reported the tragic death of a schoolgirl in Dadyal. Mirza further stated, "Riots have erupted in Dadyal, with hundreds of protesters taking to the streets in Tatapani. The state's violence against my people is a ploy to impose Section 144 and a curfew in PoJK ahead of the May 11 long march and sit-in outside the legislative assembly in Muzaffarabad." The people of the region have previously sworn on their Holy Book Quran to resist oppression to their last breath. The protest on May 10 will not be the first instance of PoJK residents taking to the streets to demand their fundamental rights. They have long accused the Pakistani government of exploiting their region's natural resources and neglecting the issues they face in daily life. (ANI)
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