Daily Diary (DD) - Day 288 of 2019

1403hrs:

Pushing on..even from a position of standstill......We were denied entry to Chakothi bazaar 3 days ago. Our purpose was merely to investigate the sentiments of the local people, in relation to the dharna (sit-in protest).

Today we decided to use some moral pressure in numbers (34 co-citizens in total) to convince our local administration to explain to the 'shadows' operating in this territory without legal reference, to not obstruct public interest here.



The police at the containers offered to take us to the DC (Deputy Commissioner), who they insisted was all-powerful in making such a decision to allow us (3 co-citizens and 2 policemen) to proceed to Chakothi. Of course, the DC isn't all-powerful at all. The latter also ensured that he wasn't available......we made a fruitless trip to Chinari and onto Hattian without a trace of him anywhere.

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In the late afternoon, the following news emerged:

Finally @Un delegates decided to Visit #LOC chakothi and to meet #JKLF leadership tomorrow.

Thousands of Kashmiri people sitting on protest from 10 days near cease Fire line ( #LOC )#KashmirNeedsAttention

— Usman Tariq Chughtai (@UsmanTariqUSK) October 15, 2019

Note:

The UN delegates visited and met the JKLF leadership at the UNMOGIP office in Muzaffarabad, not the LOC at Chakothi. Apparently they cited the reason as not being able to obtain an NOC from the Pakistanis!

Isn't that farcical? A country that has no legal status in J & K is able to dictate whether or not UN delegates can visit any given part of AJK, even if the AJK prime minister is inviting them!

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Another female perspective taken yesterday. This lady was also on a 24 hour hunger strike at the time of interview:



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