One Rangers personnel was martyred and another injured after armed members belonging to the banned Jammu Kashmir Joint Awami Action Committee (JAAC) attacked security forces responding to reports of indiscriminate firing near the Matial Maira bus terminal in Rawalakot, security sources said on Tuesday.
According to sources, armed groups belonging to the banned JAAC opened indiscriminate fire in a civilian area near the Matial Maira bus terminal early in the morning.
The AJK Police said the outlawed organisation, having failed to mobilise public support in recent weeks, resorted to the firing in an attempt to shift the blame onto security forces. The incident was captured through aerial surveillance, police said.
When police, accompanied by security forces, moved to restore law and order, they came under attack from the armed assailants.
Rangers personnel deployed to support the police also reached the scene, where one Rangers official embraced martyrdom and another sustained injuries in the exchange of fire.
The AJK Police further confirmed that explosives were also used during the violence. It said an operation was under way to clear the area of armed JAAC members and protesters, alleging that local residents had been held hostage at gunpoint.
Separately, a policeman was martyred when the members of banned JAAC opened fire on police force during a clean-up operation in Poonch Division. A Federal Constabulary man was also injured in the attack.
Meanwhile, the Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) government on Tuesday said that an operation was under way in the region to clear obstacles created by the banned Jammu and Kashmir Awami Action Committee (JAAC) at entry and exit points, warning that the government would treat “blackmailers” with an “iron hand”.
“The clearance operation will continue until all routes are opened,” AJK Home Secretary Chaudhry Guftar Hussain said during a press conference.
Hussain also reaffirmed the government’s commitment to protecting human lives and ensuring the continuation of economic and business activities in the region.
“The state is committed to protecting human lives and property against all threats and to ensuring the continuation of economic, educational and business activities, and restoring normalcy across the region,” the home secretary said at the press conference.
“The state will not accept any threat or blackmail, and all blackmailers will be treated with an iron hand,” he warned.
Hussain emphasised that it was necessary to clear the area through an operation because JAAC’s miscreants possessed modern weapons.
During the press conference, Hussain elaborated on the issue, saying that the proscribed JAAC leader Khwaja Mehran had again given a 48-hour deadline to close all entry points to the state.
However, he said that the majority had distanced itself from the JAAC and that it did not have the “power to close the entry points and paralyse the state”.
“They blamed the state and tried to mislead people again through threats and propaganda; however, we will not be blackmailed.”