MUZAFFARABAD: Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) workers in Leepa Valley on Monday asked the Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) government to allocate funds in the upcoming budget for the implementation of a long-pending 14-point charter of demands, failing which they would launch a simultaneous, indefinite hunger strike in Leepa Valley, Hattian Bala, Muzaffarabad and outside the Parliament House in Islamabad.

The warning was issued during a protest rally and symbolic sit-in at “Tunnel Chowk” in Leepa Valley, located some 100 kilometres southeast of Muzaffarabad. Participants carried placards, banners, and posters calling for immediate action on their collective issues.

According to PPP leader Shaukat Javed Mir, who led the rally, the charter of demands included the construction of the strategic Barthwar Galli road to Leepa Valley, the long-awaited Leepa tunnel, and roads to Chakmaqam and Munda Kalli, as well as the building of protective bunkers.

Other demands pertained to addressing the shortage of teachers in educational institutions, resolving issues related to the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP), taking steps to promote tourism, providing interest-free loans to youth, improving healthcare facilities, establishing a separate electoral constituency, and constructing Tehsil level government office buildings, he said.

Participants raised slogans in favour of Pakistan, the Pakistan Army, the Chief of Army Staff, and the Kashmir freedom movement, while strongly condemning India.

Speakers alleged that the AJK’s current coalition government had exploited the people of Leepa Valley—particularly the youth—to an unprecedented degree, unmatched by any previous administration.

However, they acknowledged the Pakistan Army’s contributions to development in the valley, including efforts to uplift living standards, enhance educational and extracurricular opportunities for youth, and promote sports.

“Our struggle is not aimed at anyone’s defeat or victory; it is only to ensure the acceptance of our legitimate demands,” Mr Mir said.

“If the government issues a formal notification accepting our demands, we are ready to take out a thanksgiving rally the very next day,” he added.

He asserted that none of the participants had any personal grudge against AJK Prime Minister Chaudhry Anwarul Haq or Education Minister Deewan Ali Khan Chughtai, in whose constituency Leepa Valley falls.

“We respect them, but we are exercising our constitutional and democratic right to demand fulfillment of their official responsibilities and public commitments,” he said.

He urged the federal government to announce a development package for the constituencies along the Line of Control (LoC) and to ensure that all LoC-residing families, without discrimination, were included in the BISP.

Mr Mir also demanded the establishment of a powerful commission to probe alleged corruption in projects undertaken by the AJK Council and the Local Government and Rural Development Department over the past 15 years, prior to the upcoming general elections.

Published in Dawn, June 17th, 2025