MUZAFFARABAD: Shops and markets were largely shut and vehicular traffic remained minimal in Muzaffarabad, the capital of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK), on Tuesday as the newly proscribed Joint 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 told Dawn by telephone.

Witnesses in Kotli said that while the area observed a complete shutter-down and 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 the 12 seats in the region’s Legislative Assembly that are reserved for refugees from Indian-occupied Jammu and Kashmir who settled in mainland Pakistan after 1947. JAAC alleges that these seats were often used by mainstream Pakistani political parties to influence the formation of governments in Muzaffarabad.

The government, on the other hand, maintains that it is a constitutional matter and cannot be decided by one group.

Sedition proceedings ordered against 2 JAAC leaders

In another action against the JAAC, the AJK government has issued orders for initiating sedition proceedings against its leaders Shaukat Nawaz Mir, resident of Muzaffarabad, and 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 and audios”.

The government has issued instructions to the Mirpur and 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 and Khawaja, and submit a charge-sheet in court after completing the investigation.

‘Find a way out through talks’

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 and 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 and 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 and 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.

HRCP expresses concern over ‘escalating confrontation’

Separately, the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) said it was “deeply concerned by the escalating confrontation” in AJK and 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 and democratic processes rather than confrontation and violence,” the HRCP stressed.

The HRCP had previously also expressed concern over the proscribing of JAAC.

On Friday, the AJK government declared JAAC a proscribed organisation, stating that it was “engaged in terrorism” and had acted in a manner “prejudicial to peace and security” of the state. A day later, AJK authorities launched a crackdown on 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 and seven civilians lost their lives.

Islamabad has also dispatched federal paramilitary forces to reinforce the region’s thinly stretched police force, and intending visitors have been advised to postpone their trips until June 20.

More to follow