Protesters, police clash; LoC check-post torched

Srinagar: Clashes erupted between irate crowds and the police near the Line of Control (LoC) in Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir on Friday, leaving several people injured.

A report received here said that the PoK police and other law enforcing agencies confronted a huge procession of people heading towards the de facto border and used force to disperse it.

During the clashes, the violent protesters torched a police check-post near the LoC.

“The police baton charged the protesters and in the ensuing clashes a number of protesters and policemen were injured,” said a Muzaffarabad-based journalist over the phone.

The protests against the unabated exchanges of fire between the Indian and Pakistani armies and border guards along the LoC had been called by pro-independence Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF). Reports from across the de facto border said that thousands of people mainly from Kotli and Poonch districts of the PoK turned up to begin a long march towards the de facto border.

Tauqeer Geelani, the JKLF leader in PoK said, “Our protest was against the continued shelling on the LoC which has killed and maimed dozens of people and destroyed homes in recent weeks. We want an end to this animosity and ask both India and Pakistan to address the issue of Kashmir as per the relevant resolutions of the UN Security Council keeping in view the overwhelming aspirations of the people living on both sides of the divide line.” He also said that the purpose of holding the rally was also to impress upon the government in Muzaffarabad to compensate the sufferers of the cross-LoC firing and shelling and resolve their other problems.