TERMING protesters in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) as “enemies” like India, Pakistan’s Defence Minister Khawaja Asif has said there will be no dialogue with them. Many activists of the banned Joint Awami Action Committee (JAAC) have been killed and dozens injured in clashes with law enforcement personnel in PoK since Monday, the organisation said on Wednesday. Law enforcement authorities, however, disputed the death toll and accused protesters of opening fire on security personnel. “There will be no dialogue with the protesters. I bracket them with India. I put them in the same category as India and consider them as enemies of Pakistan,” Asif told reporters. Separately, the Prime Minister’s Adviser Rana Sanaullah told reporters that the JAAC held a meeting with him and presented its 38 demands. Alleging that the protesters want to seize Muzaffarabad and Mirpur through force, Sanaullah on Tuesday claimed that they were currently engaged in an “India-like attack”. Sanaullah claimed that no one was killed in clashes between the law enforcement personnel and protesters. Meanwhile, shops and markets in Mirpur remained closed on Wednesday, BBC Urdu reported. In the first phase of elections on Monday held in 13 seats to the so-called Legislative Assembly of PoK, the Pakistan Muslim LeagueNawaz (PML-N) secured nine seats. The second and third phases of the remaining 32 seats will be held on August 2 and 10, respectively.

 

It is a direct contest between the two in PoK because former prime minister Imran Khan’s party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf has boycotted the polls. The first phase of the election was marred by violence and massive rigging allegations. The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), which is in coalition with PMLN at the Centre, alleged that the PML-N was gifted the majority of seats in the polls through massive rigging. The JAAC has been holding a series of protests in PoK since last month over 12 contentious seats of the so-called regional Legislative Assembly. It alleges that the establishment manoeuvres these seats to install a prime minister of its choosing. Pak revokes registration of 13 pvt schools in PoK over anti-Govt protests IN YET another crackdown on dissent, the Pakistani authorities have revoked the registrations of 13 private schools in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) over the participation of their management, staff and students in the ongoing anti-Government protests in the occupied territory. Sharing an official order issued by the authorities on its social media platform X, the Joint Awami Action Committee (JAAC) said, “Punishing schools and students for exercising fundamental rights is collective punishment and a grave attack on the right to education.”