MUZAFFARABAD: Three persons were injured, one of them critically, after Indian troops fired from across the Line of Control at a motor rally while it was moving through a vulnerable artery in Poonch district of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) on Tuesday, official sources and witnesses said.

The rally had started from Tetrinote and was heading towards Dhar Bazaar to participate in a function held to mark the 36th death anniversary of Maqbool Butt, a pioneer Kashmiri guerrilla leader, when it was hit with small arms by Indian army at a spot known as Maindla near Madarpur, they said.

“Two vehicles were targeted by Indian snipers; as a result three riders were injured,” said a police official based in the area.

He said the victims were 32 years old Luqman Aziz, who suffered a bullet injury near his neck, 20 years old Arsalan Siddique, who was injured in his lower back, and Rashid Talib, who suffered a bullet injury in his left arm.

Out of them, Luqman and Arsalan were admitted to the Shaikh Khalifa bin Zayed Hospital, Rawalakot, from where Luqman was later shifted to the Combined Military Hospital, Rawalpindi, owing to his critical condition, officials said.

The rally was organised by a local faction of the Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF). It was not clear immediately whether the victims were activists or just supporters of the organisation that seeks independence of Jammu and Kashmir from both India and Pakistan.

Rallies and demonstrations were also held elsewhere in AJK under the aegis of pro-independence organisations and groups, mainly the JKLF and the National Students Federation (NSF), to mark the death anniversary of Mr Butt who was hanged by the Indian government in New Delhi’s infamous Tihar Jail on Feb 11, 1984 and buried there.

Participants of the rallies paid homage to Mr Butt for laying down his life for Kashmir cause and vowed to follow in his footsteps for the emergence of Jammu and Kashmir as an independent and sovereign state on the globe.

Activists at a JKLF-led rally in Muzaffarabad also carried portraits of Yasin Malik with demands for his immediate release.

Mr Malik, who is facing serious health problems, is among thousands of Kashmiri leaders and activists who have been kept under illegal detention by the Indian government.

Not only pro-independence activists but also pro-Pakistan leaders and activists paid glowing tribute to Mr Butt and other “martyrs of Kashmir”.

“I salute to Shaheed Maqbool Butt and all other sons of the soil who laid down their lives in their determined efforts to translate the dream of Kashmir’s freedom into reality. Insha Allah their supreme sacrifices will not go in vain and oppressor India will have to quit our motherland,” AJK Prime Minister Raja Farooq Haider said in a statement on the occasion.

He called upon the international organisations to force India to return the mortal remains of Mr Butt and Afzal Guru to be buried with honour in their motherland.

Published in Dawn, February 12th, 2020