MUZAFFARABAD: A committee comprising heads of political and religious parties of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) has decided to postpone a proposed march towards the Line of Control (LoC) until Prime Minister Imran Khan’s address at the United Nations General Assembly on Sept 27.

A meeting of the committee presided over by AJK Prime Minister Raja Farooq Haider was held at Kashmir House in Islamabad on Saturday.

On Aug 9, four days after India scrapped special status of occupied Kashmir through a rushed presidential order and put the whole territory under a lockdown, a multiparty meeting was convened by Mr Haider to discuss the situation and come up with a unanimous course of action.

As a wide understanding at the meeting was to stage a march towards the LoC, the AJK prime minister was mandated by the participants to set modalities and fix a date for it. However, no progress could be made on the matter due to Mr Haider’s month-long foreign tour.

On his return on Sept 11, a general meeting of some heads and representatives of political and religious parties was held, but a decision on the matter was again deferred till Prime Minister Imran Khan’s address to a rally in Muzaffarabad on Friday.

At Friday’s rally, Mr Haider spoke about the very demand and desire in AJK to “trample down the LoC”.

Responding to it, Prime Minister Imran Khan said he knew that majority of youths in AJK wanted to stage a march on the LoC out of passion and commitment.

However, he urged them to defer a march until he fought their case at the UN General Assembly.

Published in Dawn, September 15th, 2019