Muzaffarabad: Police manhandle, arrest demonstrators protesting against Neelum-Jhelum hydropower projects

At least 60 demonstrators were arrested and many others manhandled by the police during a protest in Muzaffarabad city in Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK) on Sunday. A large number of protesters had blocked the highway demanding immediate termination of hydropower projects that are underway on the Neelum and Jhelum rivers. Protestors argue that the hydropower projects would divert the water of river Jhelum, thus affecting the day-to-day lives of the city's residents.

The residents have been on a sit-in for over two months over the issue but the authorities have failed to listen to their demands. Shops and businesses in the city were shut down on Sunday as a mark of protest against the police action on demonstrators. Those detained by police include Afzal Sulahria, Shoukat Nawaz Mir, Kamran Baig, Basit Qurashi and, Lala Mustafa. To denounce the police action on protesters in Muzaffarabad, the Kashmiri diaspora has announced a protest outside the Pakistan High Commission in London on June 18.

The projects that were supposed to bring prosperity, have adversely affected the lives of the common people, with many of them forced to migrate to other places in the country. PoK residents have been suppressed for seven decades now. They are not just denied basic rights but are forced to lead their lives on terms dictated by Islamabad. 

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