Dressing up massacre as military operation does not absolve perpetrator | India slams Pakistan at UN

Hours after 11 people were reportedly killed in clashes with police in Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir (PoK), New Delhi criticised Islamabad and said it hoped the international community will hold the country “accountable for its misdeeds and abuses”. During a press briefing Tuesday, MEA Spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said: “We continue to see in this context, a pattern of fake news and videos emanating from Pakistan. It is a desperate attempt by Pakistan to cover up its own failings and deflect attention away from its human rights abuses. There are reports of severe police brutality in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, in which several people have been killed and many injured. We hope the international community will hold Pakistan accountable for its misdeeds and abuses…”. The clashes in PoK ahead of a protest called for Tuesday left 11 people dead and nearly 70 others injured as paramilitary forces tried ​to scatter a group of protesters from a banned alliance of civil society ‌groups.

What happened in PoK?

Police said the protesters of the Joint Awami Action Committee (JAAC) had gathered outside a hospital morgue where the body of another group member was taken after his ​death in firing by police. “Four police officers and a passerby died after miscreants shot ​at them,” Sardar Waheed Khan, commissioner of the Poonch sector in the ⁠region, told Reuters, adding, “As the result of the law enforcers’ response, six protesters were killed.”

Police ​Chief Liaqat Malik said 23 security officials and 50 protesters were among the injured in ​Sunday’s incident, with 30 offenders arrested in the Himalayan region that is a flashpoint with neighbouring India. “The state has begun a massacre of our people in Rawalakot,” Shaukat Nawaz Mir, a JAAC leader, said in ​a video message on X, referring to the district where the incident happened. He vowed ​that the group would stay united to ensure the June 9 lockdown.