Muzaffarabad (AFP): The death toll from clashes between police and members of a banned protest movement in Pakistan-administered Kashmir has risen to 20, according to an AFP tally on Friday based on official figures.
Supporters of the Joint Awami Action Committee (JAAC), an anti-government movement demanding economic and governance reforms, have been pressing ahead with protests despite the group being banned under anti-terrorism laws last week.
Officials initially told AFP on Monday that seven people had been killed — three civilians and four police officers — and dozens wounded.
A new count on Friday saw the number of deaths rise sharply to 20.
The local government’s higher education minister, Malik Zafar, told AFP that clashes between protesters and police had left seven people dead this week in his constituency of Kotli.
Commissioner Sardar Waheed, the top civilian official in the city of Rawalakot, told AFP 12 people had been killed, including the four police officers.
Khurram Iqbal, a senior police official in the city of Mirpur, said a protester had died during clashes with police on Wednesday.
Many shops in the main city of Muzaffarabad have closed this week in support of the JAAC’s calls for businesses to strike, and mobile internet has been largely inaccessible for residents, according to an AFP journalist in the area.
Members of the JAAC have decried their listing as a terror group as “oppression”, saying they are demonstrating for legitimate economic and political rights.
Days of violent clashes between police and protesters led by the JAAC last gripped the Himalayan region in September, with nine confirmed killed.
Muslim-majority Kashmir is claimed in full by both India and Pakistan, but has been divided between them since their independence from British rule.
The area is considered highly sensitive by the Pakistani military and government after years of frequent skirmishes and full-blown wars with India.
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