The commission said allegations of disproportionate force had deepened distrust, while police reported substantial casualties among security personnel.
MUZAFFARABAD/LAHORE:
The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan has called for an independent investigation into deaths, injuries and alleged excessive force during recent protests in Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir.
Its fact-finding report said the alleged disproportionate use of force had intensified polarisation and damaged trust between residents and state institutions.
The commission received accounts from families alleging that protesters were killed or seriously injured by security forces. These allegations require investigation and should not be treated as established findings against individual officers without evidence.
Police provided a sharply different account of the unrest. According to figures cited by HRCP, the regional police chief reported approximately 38 security personnel killed and 742 police officers injured since June.
The figures supplied by the authorities and protesters have not been fully reconciled. A credible inquiry would need to verify individual cases through hospital records, post-mortem reports, police files, video evidence and witness testimony.
The protests have involved demands concerning political representation, governance, electricity prices, wheat subsidies and broader control exercised by Islamabad.
Authorities have accused sections of the protest movement of violence and foreign support. Protest leaders have accused the state of suppressing peaceful dissent. Neither position eliminates the need to investigate specific acts independently.
HRCP’s intervention strengthens demands for accountability, access to information and compensation where state or protester wrongdoing is proved.
