On Friday, a second round of negotiations between a government negotiation team and the Joint Awami Action Committee (Jaac) in Muzaffarabad, in a continuous attempt for ending continuous disturbances in the territory.
The conversations between the JAAC, the AJK government and the federal ministers about elite privileges and the seats reserved for refugees broke last week. Since then, the rival groups have organized protests, exchanging the guilt of the violence that tarnished what began as a large Pacific Movement in AJK. The fierce clashes between protesters and law agents have left at least 10 people dead and recorded seriously injured in the territory.
Yesterday a new round of conversations was held between a high -level government delegation and a civil society alliance, followed by another today.
The Minister of Parliamentary Affairs, Tariq Fazal Chaudhry, said in an X position that the Government Committee was celebrating a second round of conversations with the representatives of Jaac in Muzaffrabad.
“We fully support the rights of the people of Kashmira,” he said, maintaining that most of his demands, which were in public interest, had already been accepted.
“Constitutional amendments are required to meet the few remaining demands and conversations in progress regarding that.
“We believe that violence is not the solution to any problem. We hope that the Action Committee will solve all the problems through the Pacific Dialogue,” said the minister.
In a previous position, he shared that the leader of the PPP, Raja Pervez Ashraf, Senator Rana Sanaullah, Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal, the Minister of Religious Affairs, Sardar Yousaf, advisor to the Prime Minister on the affairs of Kashmir, Qamar Zaman Kaira, Masood Ahmed and the Minister of Affairs of Kashmir. Chaudhry, were part of the government negotiating team.
Yesterday, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had expressed a deep concern for the disturbances in AJK, ordering the negotiation committee to immediately proceed to the capital of AJK and find an immediate and lasting solution to the problems.
A closing strike has paralyzed AJK under a communications blackout since the beginning of this week while the JAAC continues to press its demands.
HRCP sounds alarm
Meanwhile, the Pakistan Human Rights Commission (HRCP) has said that it is “deeply alarmed by the current violence in Azad Jammu and Cashmiro (AJK), where, according to reports, at least nine people, including three police officers, have lost their lives and hundreds have been injured during protests.”
“We strongly condemn the use of excessive force and deaths of civilians and law agents as well as communication blackouts,” the HRCP published in X.
He stressed that while “dialogue is essential, it cannot be significant amid the continuous political deprivation of the people of the region. The right to peaceful protest must be maintained and complaints approached transparently.”
“We urge federal governments and AJK to avoid greater escalation, respect the fundamental rights of people and commit to genuine and inclusive negotiations. To this end, HRCP intends to send a research mission to AJK as soon as possible to evaluate the situation,” he added.
