Violent crackdown and heavy firing by Pakistani Rangers and Frontier Corps (FC) continue unabated in Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir (PoJK). At 1:00 PM yesterday near Chinar Chowk, two Pakistani Rangers personnel sprinted toward a gathering of civilians in nearby fields and opened indiscriminate firing at point-blank range. At least three civilian deaths have been confirmed in this attack.
Although heavy rain temporarily paused the violence, clashes erupted again at 4:00 PM as a massive procession of hundreds of thousands of peaceful demonstrators marched from Rawalakot toward Muzaffarabad. Upon reaching a police checkpoint near D-Chowk, PoJK police initially launched teargas shells, after which Rangers opened direct fire into the crowd. At least two more casualties were confirmed in this strike.
As of late night, a gathering of over 200,000 protesters who had marched out from Rawalakot's Eidgah ground remains staged at Rawalakot's D-Chowk. At 10:30 PM, authorities cut off electricity across the entire city, along with continuous firing by Rangers amid loud anti-establishment chanting by demonstrators.
Seven individuals who were critically injured during Monday and Tuesday’s shootings in Mirpur and Rawalakot succumbed to their injuries between Tuesday night and Wednesday morning. This brings the death toll from Monday and Tuesday’s violence to 31, raising the total number of unarmed Kashmiris killed over the last three days to 36.
Pakistani forces are also carrying out targeted killings of key protest organisers. Usman Nazir, the brother of one of the key organisers of the protest, Umar Nazir, was shot dead by Pakistani Rangers during Monday’s firing. Osama Jameel, a PhD student at Qaid-e-Azam University who was known for singing Ram Prasad Bismil’s patriotic poem “Sarfaroshi Ki Tamanna” daily at the Rawalakot bus stand, was also shot and killed by Pakistani Rangers on Tuesday at Chinar Chowk.
Farooq Sudhan, a former terror commander of Hizbul Mujahideen, is also critically injured in the Rangers' firing. Over the last three days, more than 80 people have suffered severe injuries across Rawalakot and Mirpur due to state violence.
Beyond the lethal force deployed by Rangers and local police, video and CCTV footage accessed by ABP News shows security personnel engaged in widespread looting in Mirpur. Rangers in civilian clothes alongside uniformed PoJK police officers were captured breaking locks of private shops to steal bottled water and ice cream. Since the onset of military action on June 7 and the subsequent widespread uprising that began on July 9, the death toll in the 50-day unrest has reached 110 confirmed fatalities as of July 29.
Defending the state's actions on Geo News, Rana Sanaullah, Special Assistant to Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Political Affairs and Former Federal Interior Minister, acknowledged Pakistan's long-standing policy regarding proxy terrorist training.
Sanaullah stated that the demonstrators gathering at Rawalakot and attempting to march to Muzaffarabad are the exact "Mujahideens" that Pakistan had previously trained and deployed to fight against the neighbouring country (India). Claiming these protesters are armed, Sanaullah declared that the ongoing military and police action against them is fully justified.
