Pak govt must end its crackdown on protesters in POJK: PDP chief

People's Democratic Party (PDP) president Mehbooba Mufti on Thursday, July 30, expressed concern over the situation in POJK and said the Pakistan government must end its crackdown on protesters, adopt a humane approach and choose dialogue.

"The visuals emerging from across the LoC in the other part of Kashmir are deeply heartbreaking. It is painful to see peaceful protesters being met with brute force. The Government of Pakistan must adopt a more humane approach and choose dialogue over force," Mehbooba said in a post on X.

She said reports suggest that the protesters' demands are genuine and deserve to be heard.

"No nation grows stronger by disempowering its own people or by silencing them at gunpoint. The government must end the crackdown and stop spraying bullets at peaceful protesters. Kashmiris deserve dignity, justice, and the right to be heard, not repression," the former chief minister added.

According to an NYT report, at least 30 people, including protesters, law enforcement personnel and bystanders, had died in clashes since early June and before Monday's latest round of violence.

The Joint Awami Action Committee, a collective of activist groups, has been holding a series of protests in PoJK since last month over 12 contentious seats of the so-called regional legislative assembly.