KOTLI (Kashmir Digital): Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Kotli Sohail Yousaf on Wednesday claimed that members of the proscribed Joint Awami Action Committee (JAAC), acting under the direction of core member Imtiaz Aslam, had prepared a new plan to disrupt public order and target law-enforcement agencies (LEAs).
His remarks came a day after police arrested eight armed men linked to the Action Committee and seized weapons after uncovering a purported plan to block the Mirpur-Kotli road and attack law-enforcement personnel.
In an interview with Kashmir Digital, Sohail Yousaf said police gathered information through reliable sources and carried out raids that led to the arrests of the members of the group.
He claimed that Imtiaz Aslam was under the misconception that forming an armed group could protect him, adding that police had gathered substantial information about the activities of the alleged group.
The DSP further alleged that members of the JAAC had previously attacked and injured two security personnel in the Kaladab Balani forest. He said the incident raised questions about the group’s claim that its activities were confined to political or public demands.
According to Sohail Yousaf, police were also investigating armed networks of the group in different districts and tehsils of Azad Kashmir. He claimed that some of its operatives had attempted to disrupt elections in Mirpur district but failed.
“Weapons supply route traced”
Answering a question, the cop claimed that police had traced the route through which weapons recovered from the arrested suspects were transported to Kotli. He said details of the investigation could not be disclosed publicly at this stage.
Yousaf alleged that the group had been involved in activities beyond peaceful protest and claimed that evidence regarding its alleged links to India would emerge through the ongoing investigation.
Talking about the shutdown strike, he said the people of Azad Kashmir had rejected the group’s call for disruption, pointing to continued commercial activity in Kotli despite the call for a shutdown.
The DSP maintained that the people of Azad Kashmir were peaceful and had rejected the mischievous narrative of the Banned Action Committee. “The JAAC was neither peaceful in the past nor is it peaceful today, nor does it have peaceful objectives in the future.”
