Girl falls into ravine while fleeing harassers in Muzaffarabad

MUZAFFARABAD: A young woman died on Saturday after falling into a deep ravine while trying to escape an assault by a group of youths on Peer Chinasi Road.

According to police, the incident happened near Mera Tanoliyan in the capital of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) around noon.

The initial report of the incident identifies the woman as Fakhira Amjad, who came along his landlord, Aqeel Ahmed, in a car to visit Pir Chinasi – a famous tourist point in the area.

Aqeel Ahmed is a resident of Naseerabad tehsil but currently resides in Lower Plate of the capital and the couple reportedly came from the same locality.

Upon their return from the tourist point, they were chit-chatting standing beside the car when three to four men approached them, allegedly suspecting they are in ‘illegal relationship’.

The attackers began beating Aqeel, prompting Fakhira to run away in fear.

While fleeing, she slipped and fell around 100 to 120 feet down the mountainside into a roadside ditch.

She was rescued in an injured state and was being taken to the Combined Military Hospital (CMH) Muzaffarabad but succumbed to her injuries en route.

Police said the suspects fled the scene after the fall.

The body has been shifted to CMH for post-mortem, while Aqeel is in custody for questioning.

Authorities have directed an urgent investigation into the incident.

Here’s the translation in a Dawn.com-style journalistic tone:

‘Couple promoting vulgarity in our region’

According to local social activists, the harassment and questioning of visiting couples is a common occurrence at several tourist spots in Azad Kashmir.

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They say that groups of young men loiter in the area specifically to look for such couples. Once spotted, the couples are interrogated to determine whether they are related by blood or marriage — or, as the harassers allege, involved in an “illicit” relationship.

These local miscreants claim that such couples engage in immoral acts and that they are neither husband and wife nor siblings. They insist the relationships are “improper” and in violation of local traditions, accusing the couples of promoting obscenity and vulgarity in the region.

Socially active residents allege that when such couples are confronted, they are often beaten, robbed of cash and mobile phones, and, in some cases, the women are subjected to sexual violence — including incidents of gang rape that have been reported multiple times.

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Local activists express concern that these gangs of unruly youths are not only disrupting tourism but also bringing disrepute to the entire area.