MUZAFFARABAD: Police resorted to tear gas shelling and firing into the air on Friday after a clash with the participants of a “solidarity march” within the jurisdiction of Poonch district of Azad Jammu and Kashmir, official sources and witnesses said.

There were reports that many participants and police personnel sustained bruises and injuries.

However, Dr Toqeer Gillani of the Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) told Dawn that four people, including his spouse Tahira Gillani, were critically injured. Of them, Naeem Butt and Zubair Bhatti sustained bullet wounds, he said.

The march was organised by the JKLF to “express solidarity with the people affected by artillery duels” across the Line of Control (LoC) in different parts of AJK.

It began from Tattapani in Kotli district, with a large number of people among its participants, and was supposed to conclude at Madarpur in Poonch district.

However, officials had already indicated that they would not allow the march beyond a certain point in view of unrelenting firing from the Indian side.

“Indian troops have proven time and again that they do not have an iota of regard for humanity. Only a day back, they had targeted two civilians accompanying the UN military observers. So if they did not spare the UN peacekeepers, it would have been naivety to believe that they would not target this gathering,” said Poonch Deputy Commissioner Raja Tahir Mumtaz.

“Of course we could not take any chance that was why we decided to stop them in their own interest,” he told Dawn.

He claimed that at the request of the administration, Dr Gillani and other leaders initially agreed to end the march at Dhar Bazaar and later at Sehar village, some 500 metres ahead.

“However, at Sehar they not only insisted on moving ahead but also torched a police post and roughed up some police personnel, compelling the police to use tear gas shells and firing into the air,” he said.

Dr Gillani disputed the claim, saying the march was peaceful, but it turned violent due to the “incompetence of the administration”.

According to him, a public meeting was in progress in Sehar, where the march had almost concluded in view of the sensitivity of the situation. However, a handful of the participants were adamant that the march should conclude in Madarpur, he said, adding that police attacked that group, which triggered clash between the two sides.

Afterwards police also launched an “attack” on the public meeting with ruthless tear gas shelling and firing, Dr Gillani alleged. He said police also took many people into custody.

According to last reports, participants staged a sit-in in Dhar Bazaar.

Published in Dawn, March 17th, 2018