One police officer killed, over 100 injured in clashes during protest in PoK

Violent clashes in PoK over high prices of wheat flour and electricity, leading to one police officer's death

One police officer was killed and more than 100 people, mostly policemen, were injured in violent clashes between security forces and protesters agitating against high prices of wheat flour and electricity in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, media reports said on May 12.

The region witnessed clashes on May 11 between the police and activists of a rights movement amid a wheel-jam and shutter-down strike across the territory, the Dawn newspaper reported.

Mirpur Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Kamran Ali told Dawn.com that sub-inspector Adnan Qureshi succumbed to a gunshot wound in the chest in the town of Islamgarh, where he was deployed along with other police personnel to stop a rally for Muzaffarabad via Kotli and Poonch districts under the banner of the Jammu Kashmir Joint Awami Action Committee (JAAC).

Also read: What is the outlook on the global economy? | Explained 

The JAAC, which has traders at the forefront in most parts of the State, has been seeking the provision of electricity as per hydropower generation cost in the region, subsidised wheat flour and an end to the privileges of the elite class.

The regional government called in the Rangers and a heavy contingent of policemen to stop the demonstrations.

Mobile phone and internet services were suspended in different parts of the PoK on May 12, including Bhimber and Bagh Towns, Geo News reported. In Mirpur, all the mobile networks and internet service have been suspended, it added.