JAAC denies receiving support from India in PoK's protests, challenges Pakistan to show evidence

London, Aug 9 (AHN) The Jammu Kashmir Joint Awami Action Committee (JAAC), which has been leading the protests in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK), has rejected claims of receiving support from India and urged Islamabad to show proof for such allegations, a report has said.

In an interview with UK-based daily The Independent, JAAC advisory council member S.A. Khan said his coalition of civil society and political organisations was "not answerable" to India and rejected claims that it received financial support or was controlled by New Delhi.

PoK is currently witnessing the most extensive confrontation between the local population and the Pakistani state in decades, with deadly violence, suspension of internet, and allegations of police brutality amid the local elections. The protests, which initially began over increasing prices of electricity and essential commodities, have transformed into a movement calling for political reforms, greater accountability, and representative government.

Since the protests erupted in PoJK earlier this year, Pakistan has repeatedly claimed that JAAC is backed by India. Pakistani authorities also outlawed the JAAC under the anti-terrorism laws in June. However, Khan has rejected Pakistan's allegations about the group's link with India.

"JKJAAC categorically rejects the allegation that it is sponsored, financed or controlled by India," he said, as per The Independent. "It is an indigenous civil-rights movement rooted in local concerns about electricity prices, essential commodities, governance, public resources, implementation of signed agreements and political representation," he stressed.

Pakistani authorities have claimed that security forces' actions against protesters were in accordance with the law. However, Khan said that the movement was committed to peaceful protest and rejected Pakistan's description of the movement as an armed organisation.

At least 88 people have been killed in the unrest in PoK until August 3, according to the documentation shared by Jammu Kashmir Human Rights Observatory with Awami Action Committee. However, Khan said that there was "no reliable" final injury count due to restricted access to hospitals, families and official records, The Independent reported.

Meanwhile, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has backed his human rights chief's call for an impartial inquiry into the killings of protesters in PoK, his Deputy Spokesperson Farhan Haq said on Friday. Haq said that there should be accountability if peaceful protesters were harmed.

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Turk, has called for "prompt, thorough and impartial investigations into all deaths that have occurred due to the unrest, both among protesters and members of security forces" during the popular protests against election irregularities in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.

Asked at his briefing about Turk’s statement last month, Haq said: "The Secretary-General supports the work of his High Commissioner, and we certainly hope that the pleas made by Volker Turk will be listened to."

"It's important that all authorities everywhere allow for peaceful protest, and certainly that is the case here" in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, the UN Chief's Deputy Spokesperson added.

"If there have been people harmed for engaging in peaceful protest, there needs to be accountability for that," he added.