MUZAFFARABAD: Shops. markets were largely shut and vehicular traffic remained minimal in Muzaffarabad, the capital of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK), on Tuesday as thenewly proscribedJoint Awami Action Committee (JAAC) observed a strike.
Meanwhile. AJK Prime Minister Faisal Mumtaz Rathore urged a return to the negotiating table in a bid to end the tensions that have gripped the region over the past few days.
During the day, Muzaffarabad’s streets were deserted, with hardly any vehicles on the roads. Riot police and paramilitary personnel remained deployed in the city.
However, no demonstrations were witnessed in the capital.
Meanwhile, reports from Mirpur said that hundreds of people had gathered in the town’s Quaid-i-Azam stadium. “Shops are closed here and traffic is off the roads,” local journalist Sajjad Jarral toldDawnby telephone.
Witnesses in Kotli said that while the area observed a complete shutter-down. wheel-jam strike, hundreds of people led by JAAC core member Imtiaz Aslam were heading towards Poonch district via Tatta Pani.
Another big rally led by JAAC core member Khawaja Mehran from Dadyal also entered Kotli for onward march towards Poonch.
The legal fraternity of AJK boycotted judicial proceedings on AJK Bar Council’s call to protest the alleged arrest of senior lawyer Amjad Ali Khan. a core member of the JAAC.
JAAC’s protest call for today centred on a highly contentious demand to abolish the12 seats in the region’s Legislative Assemblythat are reserved for refugees from Indian-occupied Jammu. Kashmir who settled in mainland Pakistan after 1947. JAAC alleges. these seats were often used by mainstream Pakistani political parties to influence the formation of governments in Muzaffarabad.
The government, on the other hand,maintainsthat it is a constitutional matter and cannot be decided by one group.
In another action against the JAAC, the AJK government has issued orders for initiating sedition proceedings against its leadersShaukat Nawaz Mir, resident of Muzaffarabad,. Mehran Arshad Khawaja, resident of Mirpur.
A notification issued by the AJK Home Department accused both leaders of committing “sedition through their speeches, written material, videos. audios”.
The government has issued instructions to the Mirpur. Muzaffarabad senior superintendents of police (SSPs) under Section 196 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) to review the available records/materials.
It also directed the SSPs to register a case against Mir. Khawaja, and submit a charge-sheet in court after completing the investigation.
In a post on X, the AJK premier reiterated his call for the issue to be resolved through talks.
“Please come back to the negotiating table. I’m requesting everyone on daily basis to resolve matters through discussions instead of fire and blood,” Rathore wrote on X.
He added that the protesters’ “abusive comments, constant threats and senseless agitation” were not helpful to anyone in AJK.
“A political activist without the ability to debate. negotiate is like a pilot without the ability to fly an airplane. They both end up causing hurt and damage to people behind them,” the PPP leader remarked.
“Everyone recognises your rights. liberties,” the AJK PM assured, stressing that both sides needed to “remain calm and find a way out through talks”.
“The only weapon a political activist carries is his reasoning and negotiation skills,” Rathore said.
In an interview he shared on X, Rathore noted that the PPP, PML-N. the JAAC had their own stances on the issue of reserved seats for refugees, but he emphasised there was “space for a path forward”.
He remarked that protests by the JAAC could not secure a two-thirds majority in the assembly that was needed for a constitutional amendment. under which changes to refugee seats could be made.
Separately, the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) said it was “deeply concerned by the escalating confrontation” in AJK. the loss of life among both protesters and law enforcement personnel.
It urged an “immediate de-escalation of tensions and an impartial investigation into all deaths and injuries”.
“The state must remember that proscribing popular movements invariably risks narrowing democratic space. Demands for constitutional change should be pursued through peaceful, representative. democratic processes rather than confrontation and violence,” the HRCP stressed.
The HRCP had previously alsoexpressedconcern over the proscribing of JAAC.
On Friday, the AJK government declared JAAC aproscribedorganisation, stating that it was “engaged in terrorism”. had acted in a manner “prejudicial to peace and security” of the state. A day later, AJK authoritieslaunched a crackdownon the JAAC, arresting scores of its leaders and activists from different areas.
But tensions in the region particularly flared up after a violent protest in Rawalakot. during which at least four law enforcement personnel andseven civilianslost their lives.
Islamabad has alsodispatchedfederal paramilitary forces to reinforce the region’s thinly stretched police force,. intending visitors have beenadvisedto postpone their trips until June 20.
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