MUZAFFARABAD:
The Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) government has accused the banned Joint Awami Action Committee (Jaac) of causing financial losses of Rs 15 billion to the state through violent activities and alleged that the group has links with Indian-backed anti-state elements.
Addressing a press conference along with AJK Police Spokesperson on Monday, Information Secretary Muhammad Rashid Hanif said the banned organization had inflicted substantial financial loss on the state, severely depleting its limited resources.
He said the group had disrupted law and order, daily life, businesses and students’ education under the pretext of defending human rights.
The accusations come days after authorities said they had uncovered evidence linking protest organizers and their handlers abroad to India, accusing them of promoting anti-state narratives and orchestrating unrest through coordinated campaigns.
Giving background, Hanif said the movement emerged in the early 2020s in response to global inflation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
He said the AJK government had immediately addressed public complaints by providing subsidies on wheat and electricity, adding that both products remained cheaper in AJK than anywhere else in Pakistan.
According to the information secretary, what initially started as a public movement was later hijacked by anti-state elements, diverting it from its original objectives towards political motives before becoming an unregistered anti-state movement.
He said video evidence had been shared with the media showing Jaac leaders and their handlers abroad chanting slogans against Pakistan and its armed forces while promoting chaos and anarchy.
Hanif alleged that the group’s activities had gradually escalated from peaceful protests to organized violence against state institutions and law enforcement agencies.
Referring to the group’s first sit-in in 2023, he said protesters crossed peaceful boundaries by attacking government facilities in Dadyal. He said violence escalated during the 2024 sit-in, when activists clashed with Islamabad Capital Territory police and desecrated police uniforms.
He further alleged that the movement had increasingly targeted government officials. According to him, members of the group attempted to assassinate a deputy commissioner in Chamyati and physically assaulted a superintendent of police and other officials in Bagh.
He also expressed concern about what he described as the use of women and children as human shields during clashes, calling the practice dangerous and unacceptable.
Hanif claimed that there was credible evidence of foreign funding aimed at mobilizing members of the Kashmiri diaspora abroad to fuel unrest in the region.
