ISLAMABAD: The Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) on Thursday said it would move the United Nations and the Amnesty International against the “brute” use of force by Pakistani security forces in Pak-Occupied Kashmir (POK) and “human rights violations” there during its second attempt to cross the Line of Control (LOC) into India on March 30.

In a statement the JKLF acting chairman Ghulam Mustafa Alvi said the Punjab and Frontier constabularies in POK baton charged and tear gassed women children and innocent people in Muzaffarabad the POK capital and other places in a bid to stop the JKLF marchers from proceedings to the LOC.

At least 13 women were injured in a baton charge on a group of activists near Chinari near the LOC he claimed.

The JKLF wanted to “avoid violence” Alvi said and said it would organize protest rallies and demonstrations in protest against the arrest of the Kashmiri militant groups chairman Amanullah Khan its vice-chairman Raja Muzaffar Khan and senior leaders by Pakistan and POK authorities after the forthcoming “Id.”

The JKLF acting chairman charged the POK Premier Sardar Abdul Qayyum Khan with “torturing” the Front activists and “unleashing a reign of terror” in POK thus creating “immense hatred” in the hearts of the people.

He also appealed to release Raja Muzaffar Khan from custody as a special case the JKLF vice chairman was a “heart patient.”

Meanwhile reports reaching here from Muzaffarabad said the POK authorities arrested seven JKLF members on Wednesday night as security forces continued their side in different parts of Muzaffarabad. The POK Premier had told newsmen the detained JKLF leaders and workers would be released soon.

AJKLF spokesman said the wave of arrests indicated the POK government had started a campaign to “crush” the Kashmiri militant group.

Meanwhile the leader of the opposition Jammu and Kashmir Democratic Alliance Sultan Mahmood Chaudhry has said the arrest of the opposition in POK including himself on March 29 was “illegal.”

Talking to newsmen here after his release barrister Chaudhry said on Wednesday the JKDA leaders were arrested on order from Sardar Qayyum when it was “seriously considering” to call off its program of marching towards the border town of Chakoti to receive Kashmiris from the other side.

Accusing the POK authorities of imposing “black laws” he said there was no need for clamping prohibitory orders under section 144 of the criminal procedure code to control the situation in the wake of the JKLF call. Baton charging and tear gassing he said was absolutely uncalled for.

Both the JKLF and the JKDA accused the POK administration of “defaming” the “Kashmiri movement” the world over by detaining Pakistani and foreign media men who had gone to POK to cover the JKLF program. In a related development the Pakistan Secretary General Foreign Affairs Akram Zaki on Wednesday briefed Islamabad based ambassadors and heads of mission of non-EEC countries on the Kashmir issue.

Article extracted from this publication >> April 17, 1992