One dies amid fierce clashes in AJK's Poonch

MUZAFFARABAD: At least one man was killed and several others were injured in clashes between protesters and law enforcement personnel along a key road linking Arja and Rawalakot district of Azad Jammu and Kashmir on Saturday, officials said.

Poonch Divisional Com­missioner Sardar Waheed Khan said law enforcement personnel had been dispatched from Arja to restore an abandoned police post at Jindala Cross, where the main road to Rawalakot bra­nches off towards the Tain-Dhalkot bridge over the Jhelum River.

According to him, activists of the proscribed Joint Awami Action Committee (JAAC) had blockaded the road and were allegedly preventing people from travelling freely between the two sides. He also referred to the alleged assault on a traders’ leader from Arja at the same location recently.

Traders’ leader Nasir Arbab and his cousin were reportedly thrashed on July 1 when they attempted to remove road obstacles to allow an ambulance carrying a body from Rawalpindi via Tain-Dhalkot to pass. His family alleged that JAAC activists had abducted Mr Arbab, wrongfully confined and tortured him before abandoning him by the roadside. Photos shared on social media by his relatives appeared to show bruises and other marks of torture on his body.

Following the incident, traders in Arja ended their weeks-long shutter-down strike and resumed business activities.

“The activists were misbehaving with everyone, necessitating the restoration of the previously abandoned police post located nearby,” the commissioner said, adding that some protesters also pelted law enforcement vehicles with stones.

Published in Dawn, July 12th, 2026 ...