Law enforcement agencies are continuing operations against armed groups carrying out attacks on security personnel in Rawalakot, a senior police official said on Wednesday (Geo News).
Addressing a press conference in the city, AJK police spokesperson Senior Superintendent of Police Khawar Ali Shaukat said armed attackers had taken positions in different buildings across Rawalakot.
The operations are running amid violent clashes involving supporters of the proscribed Jammu Kashmir Joint Awami Action Committee, during the territory’s general elections.
The AJK government declared the JAAC a proscribed organisation on June 5 under the Anti-Terrorism Act, accusing it of involvement in terrorism. A government information secretary has separately accused the banned group of trying to disrupt the elections through unrest (Geo News).
The account above is the police and government version. The JAAC’s response to the specific allegations made this week has not been reported, and the committee’s proscription limits its capacity to answer publicly.
The geography matters. Rawalakot is in Poonch division, which votes in the third and final phase on August 10 — the division that was given the longest run-up, and where the confrontation between the committee and the authorities has been most sustained. Around thirty people have died in the unrest since June.
