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- May 12, 2024
- Kainat Shakeel
- 0
The situation in Muzaffarabad seems to have subsided on Sunday after severe battles over the previous 48 hours that resulted in the death of a policeman. A Rangers detachment that was dispatched from Kohala to Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) has now been withdrawn. Amid a wheel-jam and shutter-down strike that affected the entire region on Friday and Saturday, AJK saw violent altercations between police and rights movement activists that resulted in at least one police official dying and more than 90 others being hurt, officials informed Dawn.com on Saturday. Sub-inspector Adnan Qureshi died from a gunshot wound to the chest in the town of Islamgarh, where he was dispatched to halt a Muzaffarabad rally organized by the Jammu Kashmir Joint Awami Action Committee (JAAC), according to Mirpur Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Kamran Ali.
The JAAC, which is leading the traders in most regions of the state, has been pushing for the elimination of the elite class’s privileges, subsidized wheat flour, and electricity provided at the cost of hydropower generation in AJK. After raids on Thursday resulted in the arrest of at least 70 of their members, they declared a strike. Following the protests on Sunday, there were reports that three battalions of Rangers had infiltrated the area via Kohala and were awaiting additional orders. But now that things had cooled down, AJK Minister for Rural Development Faisal Mumtaz Rathore acknowledged that the Rangers had been “called back as soon as they entered Azad Kashmir” as a result of President Asif Zardari’s intervention.
Sardar Abdul Qayyum Niazi, the former prime minister of AJK, attacked the deployment in Islamabad, calling it a “drama” and a tactic to gain political points. “What is this, that they send them first, then call them back?” stated the former PM of AJK. Niazi stated in a statement, “Those defending their rights and participating in protest are free to do so, but they must remain peaceful.” He continued by saying that the demonstrators must prevent the “enemy” from causing division and internal strife in the area. Rathore acknowledged the public’s requests for affordable electricity in a Facebook post, but he also said that solving them was “out of his hands.”
“The Government of Pakistan is responsible for meeting the public’s major demands, which include ending load shedding and providing affordable electricity,” stated Rathore. “In this one year [I have been in office], I have never been against the right to peaceful protest and [never] supported violence against people,” he declared, urging the populace to maintain their composure. Leader of the JAAC Shaukat Nawaz Mir reaffirmed following the demonstrations that the group is a nonviolent organization ready to engage in dialogue with the government to guarantee the supply of inexpensive flour and energy. The Rangers’ departure from the area was also well appreciated by him.
“On Sunday, we told reporters that we were planning another shutter-down strike.” We are and always will be a peaceful movement; that much is clear from the past year. Institutions, law enforcement, and this area belong to us. “But the bureaucrats who do not understand the public’s needs are doing the damage,” Mir asserted, even though the JAAC is fighting for the rights of the public in AJK. Mir said that the JAAC is nonviolent and amenable to talks, asking to be informed of decisions made by the authorities. “We wish to not harm anyone.”
In addition, he attacked the federal government for not reducing spending while maintaining that there wasn’t enough money in the budget to subsidize grain or energy. “The federal government and the prime minister should be ashamed,” Mir remarked, adding that “the government claims they can’t provide cheap electricity and flour because they have no budget, but they have the money for watches and cars.” Mir stated, “I don’t want my forum to be controversial.” Our members are honorable politicians. The local government is supporting us. The JAAC chairman went on to say that because representatives of numerous councils and parties “are on our side,” the initiative was effective. “We now have a conscious nation. Here, politics is nonexistent; all we want is our identity and rights.
Taking note of the circumstances in AJK, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has asked the PML-N leadership and Chaudhry Anwar-ul-Haq, the prime minister of AJK, to continue talks with the JAAC. In a post on X, he stated, “There should be no tolerance for taking the law into one’s own hands and damaging government properties, even though debate, discussion, and peaceful protests are the beauties of democracy.” In times of turmoil and discord, he continued, “There will always be people who rush in to score political points.” Speaking with the PML-N leaders and the AJK administration, the prime minister stated he was in communication with them and urged them to “resort to [a] peaceful course of action for resolution of their (JAAC’s) demands.” Shehbaz continued, saying that the problem will be fixed quickly despite the efforts of “detractors.”
According to President Asif Ali Zardari, the parties involved should exercise patience and make an effort to settle the disputes via communication and mutual assistance. The president stated that to prevent the antagonistic forces from taking advantage of the situation, political parties, the establishment, and the general public must act responsibly while meeting with a PPP delegation from the AJK legislative assembly. “The people’s demands in Azad Jammu and Kashmir must be fulfilled by the law,” Zardari declared, expressing his intention to discuss a resolution with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. He asserted that the region’s socioeconomic growth, which includes infrastructure, tourism, health, and education, should take precedence. The president expressed concern for the existing state of affairs in AJK and emphasized the need to bring remote areas up to par with other developed areas of the nation. Along with offering his sympathies for the policeman’s untimely death, the president prayed for everyone who was hurt to heal quickly.