The recent unrest in Azad Jammu & Kashmir (AJK) has shaken Islamabad out of its complacency. At least nine lives were lost on Wednesday, while official reports confirm 172 policemen and over 50 civilians sustained injuries in violent clashes.
With markets shuttered and roads blocked, ordinary citizens were not protesting for lofty slogans but for wheat subsidies, fair electricity tariffs, and relief from an economy that has pushed them to the edge. What unfolded in Muzaffarabad cannot be dismissed as the handiwork of hidden hands. It was the voice of a people who feel overlooked in the very political order they are told to safeguard.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s decision to respond swiftly deserves recognition. He had earlier extended a Rs23 billion relief package for AJK, and this week went further: ordering impartial investigations into the clashes, directing immediate assistance for bereaved families, and dispatching a broad-based committee of senior PML-N and PPP leaders to Muzaffarabad. The inclusion of experienced political figures such as Rana Sanaullah, Ahsan Iqbal, Masood Khan and Qamar Zaman Kaira reflects an overdue acknowledgement that political crises require political solutions, not administrative decrees. This is the correct path. Dialogue, not force, is the only way to resolve issues that have accumulated for years. Yet contradictions loom large. Even as Islamabad spoke the language of empathy, AJK’s people endured internet suspensions and media blackouts. Such measures deepen mistrust rather than build confidence. A protest is a constitutional right, and silencing it through information control risks alienating citizens who have always stood with Pakistan in its most difficult times.
The responsibility also lies with the Joint Awami Action Committee. Having mobilised people on legitimate issues, it must now demonstrate seriousness by engaging in negotiations. If talks are rejected outright, suspicions of hidden agendas will only grow. Both the government and protest leaders owe it to AJK’s citizens to ensure that grievances are addressed through democratic dialogue rather than through confrontation and bloodshed.
This moment carries lessons beyond Muzaffarabad. AJK cannot remain a buzzword in speeches about the “jugular vein.” Its people require dignity, equity, and sustained attention to their economic hardships. Promises made in moments of crisis must translate into tangible reforms that endure. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has taken the first step by prioritising dialogue. The question now is whether both the state and protest leadership can prove that justice in AJK will be delivered not through funerals and blackouts, but through trust, transparency, and peace. *