MUZAFFARABAD: The Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) High Court on Friday directed the government to enforce the Trade Organizations (Registration and Regulation) Act, 2019 within 90 days, ruling that until then, no one may claim to represent traders or businessmen based on the 2020 elections.

The ruling was given by Justice Chaudhary Khalid Rasheed on a petition filed in January 2019 by five traders from Muzaffarabad who had challenged the November 21, 2020, elections for a local traders’ body and sought enforcement of the 2019 Act.

In those elections, over 9,000 voters were registered under the “one shop, one vote” rule, and more than 7,400 cast their ballots. The Parcham Panel, led by Shaukat Nawaz Mir, was elected for a five-year term under an SOP signed by five traders’ associations.

Petitioners’ counsel argued that the 2019 Act, promulgated in February of that year, made it mandatory for trade organisations to obtain a government-issued licence, limited office-bearers’ tenure to one year, and authorised the appointment of a regulator.

Interestingly, the counsel wrongly referred to Mr Mir as president of the “Tajir Joint Action Committee” and said its registration had been cancelled in February 2013, yet a five-year term was agreed for the 2020 elections — contrary to the law. He requested the court to restrain Mr Mir from representing Muzaffarabad’s traders.

The counsel for the official respondents, conceded that the Act had not been implemented but said the government had no objection to the court directing enforcement.

No one appeared in court on behalf of Mr Mir.

In his verdict, Justice Rasheed cited provisions of the Act, including the need for a renewable licence every five years and the legal limit of one-year terms for office bearers. He noted that no applications for registration had been filed, and the organisations involved were unregistered, rendering the 2020 elections legally void.

“Until the Act is implemented, no individual may claim to represent traders or businessmen based on the 2020 elections,” he held.

The decision came a day before the Jammu Kashmir Joint Awami Action Committee (JKJAAC) — a civil society coalition leading a vigorous rights movement in AJK — is holding a massive rally in Muzaffarabad to commemorate three activists killed in May last year.

In his reaction, Mr Mir — who is among the top JKJAAC leaders —questioned the timing of the judgment but stopped short of making any immediate comment on it.

He said he was consulting his legal team to challenge it.

“Some forces want to weaken our movement, but they will fail. Tomorrow, people from all walks of life will come out in large numbers to pay homage to the martyrs,” he said.

Published in Dawn, May 24th, 2025