PM Shehbaz signals talks with JAAC amid shutter-down strike in AJK

MUZAFFARABAD: MUZAFFARABAD: As a shutter-down and wheel-jam strike was observed across Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) on Monday on the call of the Jammu and Kashmir Joint Awami Action Committee (JAAC), Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif signaled readiness for talks with the committee’s leadership.

While agreeing to discuss their demands, the prime minister appealed to the JAAC to call off the protest, saying about 98 per cent of their demands had already been accepted, with only two still unresolved.

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz senior leader and AJK’s former information minister Mushtaq Ahmed Minhas told reporters in London that PM Shehbaz had urged the JAAC to withdraw its strike call.

“We spoke to the prime minister on the strike issue. He listened patiently and said about 98 per cent of JAAC’s demands had already been agreed upon, with only two demands unresolved,” Minhas said.

According to him, Shehbaz promised that within two days of his return to Pakistan he would personally meet JAAC leaders.

He said that the prime minister has also asked the JAAC to call off the protest in Pakistan and Kashmir’s wider interest, stating that India could “highlight the demonstrations and it could become a source of embarrassment.”

Meanwhile, JAAC leaders and workers have been actively mobilising support in different districts to ensure the strike’s success.

Internet blackout

Mobile and internet services remained suspended across all districts and cities of AJK since Sunday afternoon. Fibre internet services were also cut off, leaving residents cut off from the outside world.

Pakistan Telecommunication Authority spokesperson Zaib-un-Nisa told Arab News that the services were blocked on the instructions of the federal interior ministry.

JAAC leader Shaukat Nawaz Mir, in a late-night video message, said the blackout had pushed them “into the past.”

“If the prime minister (Shehbaz Sharif) has really said he will look into our demands, then restore internet services so we can see his statement and announce our next steps,” Mir said.

Earlier, Mir had appealed to residents of Muzaffarabad to gather near Neelum Bridge at noon Monday to follow the committee’s Plan B.

Why talks failed

The JAAC had presented a 38-point charter of demands, including an end to elite privileges and the abolition of 12 legislative assembly seats reserved for Kashmiri refugees living in Pakistan.

On September 25, Federal Minister for Kashmir Affairs Amir Muqam and Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Tariq Fazal Chaudhry held marathon talks with JAAC and local government representatives in Muzaffarabad.

Chaudhry later said all “practicable demands” had been accepted, but some required constitutional amendments that could only be addressed through consensus with other political parties and lawmakers.

Protests over time

For the past two years, JAAC has led intermittent large-scale protests in AJK over issues such as flour subsidies, electricity tariffs, and elite perks. Some demonstrations turned violent, including one in May 2024 when clashes with security forces left three civilians and a police officer dead.

While the government accepted several demands and issued notifications, JAAC claims many agreements were never implemented. Over time, the committee expanded its charter to 38 demands.

Despite the internet suspension, rallies were held in several cities. In Rawalakot, demonstrators held a motorcycle rally in the afternoon followed by a torch-lit procession in the evening. A similar march was also staged in Bagh.

Two days before the strike, hundreds of police and law enforcement personnel were deployed from Pakistan to AJK to maintain order, according to officials.

Political stance

Mainstream political parties in AJK have instructed their workers not to join JAAC protests. Instead, they have been holding joint rallies of their own — two of which were organised in Rawalakot and Bagh — led by the government of Prime Minister Chaudhry Anwarul Haq, who was elected with the support of PML-N and PPP after breaking away from PTI.

The AJK strike comes just days after violent protests erupted in the Indian-administrated Ladakh, where demonstrators demanding political autonomy clashed with security forces. At least five people were killed, according to Reuters, and prominent activist Sonam Wangchuk was later arrested by police.

Read more: ISPR says political system working in AJK, questions violent politics

He was answering a question about the violence-based politics that JAAC is pursuing in AJK.

Separately, AJK Prime Minister Chaudhry Anwarul Haq In an interview to HUM News explained how JAAC — a so-called civil society organisation — is exploiting the situation despite that the fact only two of their demands could not be accepted.

To camouflage their real motives, JAAC says large commercial or industrial electricity consumers too should be treated as domestic consumers and the reserved seats for refugees — refugee seats — in the AJK Legislative Assembly should be discarded which is tantamount to declaring the international Kashmir dispute as a local issue.

It’s a developing story. Details to follow.