MUZAFFARABAD: The ‘People’s Freedom March’ organised by the pro-independence Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) to highlight excesses being committed in occupied Kashmir came to a halt on Sunday evening at a blockade on the Muzaffarabad-Srinagar highway near Jiskool, situated some 8km from the Line of Control (LoC), officials and the group’s leaders said.

When this report was filed at about 10pm, a stalemate was persisting, as the administration urged the JKLF to call off the march and the marchers insisted on the removal of the blockade to let them move forward.

“The deputy commissioner and superintendent of police [of Jhelum valley district] have held a round of negotiations with the leaders of the march... We are pressing upon them to call off their march,” Divisional Commissioner Chaudhry Imtiaz told Dawn by phone from Chinari.

Administration urges group to call off protest

“A parliamentary committee, comprising two cabinet members, will also contact them with the same request,” he added.

However, Muhammad Rafiq Dar, central spokesperson for the JKLF, said that there was no question of calling off the peaceful march. “We will wait until tomorrow for removal of the obstacles... If they don’t [remove them], we will continue our sit-in here. The next course of action will be decided and announced afterwards,” he told Dawn.

At about 5pm the marchers reached Jiskool, where the local officials had placed containers, barbed wires, electricity poles and mounds of earth to block not just the movement of vehicles but also that of pedestrians.

Holding aloft flags of Azad Jammu and Kashmir and the JKLF, placards and portraits of their leaders, the marchers kept on chanting slogans like “Hum lay kay rahengay azadi (we will get freedom by all means)”.

Witnesses said that after it began to rain late in the evening, many of the protesters returned to Chinari and other rear areas to spend the night. But leaders of the march asked their colleagues to send them a tent to be erected near Jiskool for a night’s stay.

“I tell you, there is not even the slightest decrease in the resolve of the participants. They are as eager as anything to go across this bloody line,” Mr Dar said while referring to the LoC.

The marchers had resumed their march in Garhi Dupatta, located some 20km from here, at about 10:30am, but on vehicles and motorcycles. On Saturday, they had marched a distance of 20km from Muzaffarabad to Garhi Dupatta on foot.

The vehicular caravan reached Hattian Bala, 40km from here, at about 12:15pm, where the marchers were warmly welcomed by local residents.

“It was a rousing welcome that touched our hearts,” said Saleem Haroon, one of the JKLF leaders.

A little ahead of Hattian Bala, the caravan was joined by another procession that had started from Bagh via the famous hill resorts of Sudhan Galli and Chikar.

From Hattian Bala, the marchers once again started walking on foot and reached Chinari by 3:15pm. Chinari is located around 50km from here and some 11km before the LoC.

Jiskool is located around two kilometres ahead of Chinari. In Chinari, the participants took a break for refreshments and Zuhr prayers. They also offered fateha on the grave of Sajjad Anjum, who was among the seven JKLF activists who lost their lives on Feb 11, 1992 due to firing by Pakistani law enforcement agencies in a bid to prevent a similar march by the pro-independence group from approaching the LoC.

Speaking to Dawn from Chinari, Mr Dar maintained that since their march was peaceful and aimed at expressing solidarity with the besieged people of occupied Kashmir, they did not want to engage in any kind of confrontation with the local law enforcement personnel.

“We have to save our energies for [confrontation with] India,” he said.

The JKLF spokesperson expressed the hope that the AJK administration would “remove the obstacles on its own so that the marchers could at least reach Chakothi with ease.

Chakothi is located 3km from LoC and is overlooked by Indian gun positions atop lofty mountains across the divide.

However, Commissioner Imtiaz made it clear that he would not allow the marchers to go beyond Jiskool in view of the serious threat of Indian shelling.

“It is our primary responsibility to protect [the lives of] the marchers. The last point where we could allow them to reach is Jiskool. Beyond this they will be in the range of the enemy and therefore there is no question of allowing them to press forward.”

In the past the Indian soldiers had not hesitated before shooting at civilian and unarmed people, he added.

Published in Dawn, October 7th, 2019