Landslide: Deaths of AJK official, daughter on road trigger protest

Clash between protesters, police personnel leave 19 injured.

MUZAFFARABAD:

The death of an official of the Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) agriculture department and his daughter in a landslide early Wednesday triggered a protest in the capital city against the government. 

Nineteen people were injured, including four police personnel in a clash between the protesters and police outside AJK president’s official residence.

According to the police, Agriculture Director Dr Ashraf Quraishi and his daughter Hina Ashraf were killed when a landslide hit their vehicle at Lohar Gali, eight kilometres from here.

He was travelling from Rawalpindi to Muzaffarabad via Mansehra in his official vehicle.

Rescue 1122 team recovered the bodies from the rubble after hectic efforts.

As the news of the accident spread in the area, people staged a protest outside the AJK president’s official residence against what they called the government’s negligence.

They accused the Works and Communication Department of poor work on the road and not providing rock sheds to guard against landslides and falling stones.

The enraged protesters set a police post guarding President Sardar Yaqoob Khan’s official residence on fire.

The police dispersed the protesters,  using tear-gas shells which resulted in injuries to four police officials and 15 civilians.

“We were protesting against the negligence of the Works and Communication Department and had no concern with the president’s residence,” one of the protesters told The Express Tribune.

“The police used live ammunition, teargas shells and thrashed us, injuring 15 protesters,” he added.

Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Zaffar Awan, however, told The Express Tribune that the protesters set a police post on fire and tried to ransack the president’s residence.

“We tried our best to disperse them peacefully but they were not ready to leave the area and started pelting stones injuring four police personnel; in retaliation we fired teargas shells to disperse them,” he claimed.

Rescue 1122 secretary Farhat Ali Mir told The Express Tribune that the government should promptly provide an alternative road to the people as the area is not safe to travel on particularly in rainy weather.

“The Lohar Gali patch on the Abbottabad road is very dangerous and even rescue work is very risky in that area,” Mir added.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 20^th, 2014.