Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) Prime Minister Faisal Mumtaz Rathore has invited the Joint Awami Action Committee (JAAC), a civil rights alliance, to resume talks with his government on reserved seats for refugees and other outstanding issues, Rathore’s office said on Monday, after clashes killed seven people in the region.
The violence erupted in Rawalakot, a city in the Poonch district of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK), where authorities accused members of the recently banned Joint Awami Action Committee (JAAC) of attacking security personnel and laying siege to a military-run hospital. JAAC denied the allegations and said security forces had opened fire on peaceful protesters.
The unrest marks the most serious escalation yet in a months-long confrontation between the AJK government and JAAC, a protest movement that has campaigned on economic and governance issues in the past but has recently focused on a demand to abolish 12 seats in the regional assembly reserved for refugees from Indian-administered Kashmir who settled in Pakistan after 1947.
PM Rathore invited JAAC to resume its negotiations with the government from where they had stalled and said the issue of 12 seats was not “more important than human lives,” the AJK premier’s office said, citing Rathore’s interview with a private broadcaster.
“Let’s sit down and talk, don’t let the situation deteriorate further,” Rathore was quoted as saying by his office.
“All issues will be discussed within the ambit of the constitution and law… An acceptable solution can be found for the issue of refugee seats.”
“No decision has been taken yet to lift the ban,” Rathore was quoted as saying. “The stability and peace of the state are the top priority.”
Meanwhile, JAAC announced on Monday it would go ahead with its June 9 protest call, urging residents of the territory to stock up food supplies.
“Jammu and Kashmir Joint Awami Action Committee announces maintaining its call for a long march starting tomorrow, June 9,” Sardar Arbab, a JAAC core member, told supporters in a video message.
“Every single person should make arrangements, stock up rations in homes as well.”
JAAC’s campaign suffered a setback on Sunday when the AJK Supreme Court observed that the seats enjoy constitutional protection and cannot be abolished through executive or administrative action.
The dispute has reignited ahead of legislative elections scheduled for July 27 in the mountainous region, which lies within the broader Kashmir territory claimed in full by both India and Pakistan but administered in parts by each.
“No proposal to postpone Azad Kashmir elections is under consideration,” Rathore said. “Neither the federal nor the Azad Kashmir government intends to postpone the elections.”