New Delhi, Oct 11 (IANS) Months after Pakistani security forces launched a brutal crackdown on peaceful protesters in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK), families of victims continue to seek answers amid allegations of human rights violations, wrongful detentions, and extrajudicial killings, according to a recent report.
The unrest in PoK initially erupted over rising electricity prices and the increasing cost of living but gradually developed into a wider challenge to the region’s constitutional and political structure. The Joint Awami Action Committee (JAAC), a coalition of grassroots activists, called for a boycott of elections held in phases from July 27 to August 10, arguing that the existing system failed to adequately represent the interests and aspirations of local residents.
According to a recent report published by The Independent, the move was followed by a ban on the group and a violent crackdown on protesters by Pakistani security forces.
Subsequently, the Pakistani government proscribed the JAAC under stringent anti-terrorism laws, arrested several of its leaders, and launched a security operation to suppress the movement. The operation was accompanied by allegations of human rights abuses, arbitrary detention and extrajudicial killings, the report stated.
The report also highlighted the case of 26-year-old Fahad Barkat, whose sister spent more than two months believing that he had been detained by the police and hoping that he would eventually be released. Barkat had gone to a military hospital in Rawalakot to donate blood but never returned home. His last message to his sister was sent at 11.31 p.m. on June 7, and the family learnt what had happened to him only much later.
According to Barkat’s sister, he was shot in the neck while entering the hospital’s gate shortly before 1 a.m. The account was documented by the UK-registered organisation Jammu Kashmir Human Rights Observatory (JKHRO) in a 47-page report shared with The Independent, which summarised the family’s account of the incident.
The JKHRO has since called on the authorities to provide answers regarding the circumstances surrounding the disappearance, detention, and death of civilians in PoK.
In its detailed report, the organisation demanded that the authorities “provide written responses, casualty and detention records, operational orders” to help establish the facts behind the alleged abuses.
According to The Independent, Barkat’s family told the JKHRO that their repeated attempts to contact him through phone calls and messages went unanswered, leaving them uncertain about his whereabouts. At the same time, Pakistani newspaper Dawn identified Barkat among the civilians killed during the clashes in Rawalakot in June.
Further allegations emerged that the authorities had withheld Barkat’s body until his family agreed to sign a statement describing him as a terrorist.
It has since emerged that the “authorities were withholding (Barkat’s) body unless the family signed a statement characterising him as a terrorist killed in an encounter”, the JKHRO claimed in a separate report.
The human rights organisation has also raised questions about the sequence of events leading to Barkat’s death and the circumstances surrounding his burial. It has sought greater transparency from the authorities, including the release of CCTV footage, hospital blood donor records, post-mortem documentation, and burial records, to establish what happened and determine accountability.
The JKHRO has also stated that it has invited the authorities to respond to the allegations contained in its report, allowing them an opportunity to address the questions raised about the case.
Barkat’s case is not an isolated one, as several other families in PoK continue to search for missing relatives or seek clarity over the circumstances of their deaths.
While the JAAC has publicly reported more than 100 deaths since June 5, local residents maintain that the actual death toll is significantly higher, according to the report.
The report also highlighted the case of Shoukat Nawaz Mir, whose family has continued to await information about his whereabouts more than three months after his arrest on June 30 from Dhirkot. Despite the passage of time, his relatives have reportedly not received clarity about his fate.
Another case cited in the report concerns Jabir Mumtaz, who was allegedly killed by security personnel on September 5 after spending a fortnight in detention. His family also claimed that the authorities made the release of his body conditional on their signing a statement identifying him as a terrorist.
According to the report, the family refused to sign the statement, following which the authorities allegedly carried out the burial themselves.
The cases have intensified calls for transparency, credible investigations and accountability over the treatment of civilians during the crackdown in PoK.
–IANS
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