KARACHI:
Prime Minister Raja Faisal Mumtaz Rathore offered to restart negotiations with the JAAC and urged the protesters to return to the dialogue table.
Meanwhile, fatal clashes in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) have sparked conflicting accounts of casualties, grievances over governance and political legitimacy, with official sources confirming at least seven deaths.
According to official statements, recent unrest in areas such as Rawalakot involved clashes between law enforcement personnel and activists associated with the banned Jammu Kashmir Joint Awami Action Committee (JAAC).
Authorities said the situation escalated during an attempted long march planned for the weekend, prompting a heavy security deployment and subsequent clashes on the ground.
Police sources maintain that six security personnel, including three from the Rawalakot police and one member from the border police, were killed in separate incidents since June 6.
Authorities also claim that three protesters lost their lives due to internal gunfire during the clashes.
Civil society representatives and political observers maintain that the absence of real-time reporting from remote regions of AJK has created an “information vacuum”, allowing unverified claims and further speculation to circulate widely on digital platforms.
“There is a growing gap between ground reality and online narratives,” said an experienced journalist familiar with the region, noting that the restricted mobility of media personnel has historically contributed to information asymmetry in the area.
The clash reportedly escalated when protesters attempted a long march towards Rawalakot, prompting security deployments and leading to violent clashes.
Authorities maintained that law enforcement exercised “restraint and proportional response.”
Dialogue with the banned committee
Meanwhile, as tensions persist, competing political narratives have emerged over whether dialogue with the banned committee is legally and politically viable.
The region’s former chief justice, Chaudhry Ibrahim Zia, said compromise remains the only sustainable option. “Negotiation is the only solution to any conflict. It can take place with any party,” he said, underlining the need for moderation given the sensitivity of the region.
Similarly, representatives of the Kashmir Bar Association argued that the legal designation does not preclude political engagement aimed at restoring stability. Lawyer Haroon Riaz Mughal said that even opposing sides in armed conflicts end up entering into negotiations, adding that “dialogue is essential for long-term peace and stability.”
Members of legal fraternities and regional bar councils have jointly called for a de-escalation of tension and urged stakeholders to seek constitutional and political solutions.
A press conference in Islamabad also expressed concern about the deteriorating situation and demanded immediate dialogue between the authorities and protest leaders.
The JAAC, which organized the protests and strike, had put forward a wide-ranging charter of demands, including an end to the privileges enjoyed by the ruling elite, the abolition of 12 assembly seats reserved for refugees, and the elimination of the quota system.
On the other hand, the establishment and its representative political parties argue that eliminating these seats is only possible if the demanding party participates in the elections and enters the assembly through an electoral victory.
This is practically difficult because whichever side those 12 seats in Punjab and Sindh lean towards will determine the outcome of the elections, and those 12 members will never vote against their own existence.
This begs the question: what is more important, the clear will of the people or the rituals of any political system, in this case democracy?
Therefore, this is a time for all segments of society to apply reason and allow a functional balance to emerge between its various components, with the public, assembly and armed forces each playing their constitutionally defined roles to ensure a stable and balanced society.
Meanwhile, political developments indicate an attempt to reduce tensions. Prime Minister Raja Faisal Mumtaz Rathore offered to restart negotiations with the JAAC and urged the protesters to return to the dialogue table.
“The people protesting in AJK are ours. There is no doubt. Agents and traitors? I don’t think so. Disillusioned? Naturally. Mistakes? Surely,” the AJK Prime Minister stated in an X publication.
“Come and sit with us. This is not a problem that cannot be resolved at the cost of human lives,” Kashmir’s prime minister said in a televised interview, adding that past negotiations had failed over unresolved clauses.
Rathore also acknowledged that while some protest demands, particularly those related to refugee seats, require careful review, the solution must come through discussion and not confrontation.
Furthermore, a group of British parliamentarians have reportedly written to the UK Foreign Office expressing concern about the situation in AJK and calling for diplomatic engagement.
