Tensions mount in AJK following overnight raids, arrests by police

Tensions mounted in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) on Thursday as police launched overnight raids at the residences of the members of a rights movement and took many of them into custody, triggering violent clashes between the demonstrators and police personnel in one of the AJK towns, witnesses and official sources said.  

         AJK’s home minister Waqar Noor told reporters on Thursday that some 70 arrests had been made across the state. However, those who had assured that they would not create law and order problems had been released, he said, without providing their exact figure. 

Late last month, the Jammu Kashmir Joint Awami Action Committee, which has been spearheading the rights movement for almost an year, had announced that a “long march” would be staged on state capital Muzaffarabad on May 11, in protest against the “non-fulfilment of the commitments made in writing by an official reconciliation committee of cabinet members on December 23, 2024, in pursuance of which a notification was also issued by the services and general administration department on February 4, 2024. 

The main bone of contention was the action committee’s demand that electricity should be provided to consumers in accordance with the generation cost of hydel power in AJK. On this, the ministerial committee had pledged that the cost would be worked out "because the government was committed to providing relief to its people." 

However, “instead of taking the announcement for the May 11 strike seriously, the government showed a nonchalant attitude which was followed by jitteriness and imprudence," said Hafeez Hamdani, action committee’s media secretary in Muzaffarabad.

“Rather they took steps, such as deployment of civil armed forces from Pakistan to provoke the territory’s civil society which had been exercising its democratic right of peaceful protests to secure the legitimate rights of people,” he added. 

In his recent press talks, Prime Minister Chaudhry Anwarul Haq had emphatically asserted that the civil armed forces, mainly the Frontier and Punjab constabularies, had not been summoned to be unleashed on protestors but to ensure protection of sensitive installations. 

While warning that those trying to disturb law and order would be dealt with an iron hand by the local police, he had repeatedly acknowledged peaceful protest as the right of every citizen.

 However, on Wednesday-Thursday night, police raided the residences of prominent leaders and activists of the rights movement as well as those of their relations in different parts of the state to apprehend them “for violation of law and order.”  

  In Muzaffarabad, police were unsuccessful in arresting Shaukat Nawaz Mir, the elected leader of the traders, despite raids at his residence and that of his sister, but at least eight others, including two student leaders, were taken into custody.

In Dadyal, a tehsil of Mirpur district along the banks of Mangla Dam, around 22 activists, mostly traders, were picked in overnight raids, only to invite clashes by their colleagues and other citizens with police, during which many people from both sides had sustained injuries. 

According to witnesses, when traders came to know about the arrests of their colleagues, they staged a demonstration in Maqbool Butt Shaheed Chowk, chanting slogans against the government, administration and police.

Video footage showed that after a heated argument the demonstrators and police clashed with each other. While the demonstrators pelted the police with stones, the police responded with baton charge and fierce teargas shelling. 

Some teargas shells also landed in a state-run girls’ school, which deteriorated the condition of several girls who were rushed to the hospital for treatment. 

Witnesses said the town wore the looks of a battlefield throughout the day, adding that on some occasions, the demonstrators appeared to have overpowered the police. 

The home minister alleged that the demonstrators had also held an administration official hostage for four hours, apart from damaging an official vehicle.  

In Muzaffarabad, Shaukat Nawaz Mir issued a video message from a hideout, wherein he announced that owing to the “brutal treatment” of demonstrators in Dadyal, the protest call for May 11 had been shifted to May 10.

“… all businesses would remain shut and vehicles off the roads across Azad Jammu and Kashmir in general and in Muzaffarabad in particular from tonight,” he said.

“I call upon the people of [Azad] Kashmir to come out for their rights. If you fail...[], you will never be able to get your rights,” he said. 

Meanwhile, at a press conference three cabinet members who were part of the official reconciliation committee, claimed that their negotiations with the joint action committee were going on smoothly and they were unable to understand why the latter had announced the May 11 strike and protest. 

“The government does not want a situation of conflict and its doors are open for negotiations even today,” they said. 

Tariq Naqash 

Serious concerns expressed over deployment of civil armed forces in AJK

Hundreds of people took to the streets in the town of Rawalakot on Monday to express indignation at the deployment of Pakistan's civil armed forces in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) to “help local police deal with law and order situation.” 

Holding AJK’s national and black flags, participants took strong exception to the government for its designs to “unleash Frontier and Punjab constabularies on the people of the state, seeking their just rights through peaceful means." 

Witnesses said that in many parts of the town traders pulled down their shutters in areas from where the rally passed.   

On April 22, the AJK government had calandestinely requested the interior ministry in a letter to place six additional platoons of civil armed forces at its disposal for three months to “strengthen the capacity of the AJK police to ensure foolproof security of Chinese nationals and our strategic national infrastructure such as Neelum-Jhelum power house, Mangla power house, and Gulpur power house.”

“In addition, we are also now faced with calls for shutter-down and wheel-jam strikes from May 11 onwards given by the sub-nationalists and other disgruntled subversive elements who intend to create a law and order situation by forcibly closing of markets and disrupting public service delivery,” the letter had added. 

Though immediately AJK’s senior minister Waqar Noor and later Prime Minister Chaudhry Anwarul Haq himself had denied outright that the deployment of the civil armed forces had anything to do with the protest of the Joint Action Committee, the leaked letter of AJK chief secretary had torpedoed their assertions. 

The Joint Action Committee has long been calling for rationalisation of electricity tariff in accordance with production cost, subsidy on wheat flour and termination of extravagance of government functionaries among other demands, many of which was conceded by an official negotiation committee after several rounds of talks. It has given a call for a state-wide protest on May 11, following the government's "failure to implement even the mutually agreed upon decisions, let alone other demands." 

In a statement on Monday, Prime Minister Haq reiterated that the civil armed forces had not been deployed to quell the protests of the Joint Action Committee, but for the security of foreign engineers working on hydropower projects in the state.”

“Peaceful protest is a democratic and fundamental right of every citizen, but no one can be allowed to take the law into their hands under this guise,” he said.

Nevertheless, the deployment had triggered serious reservations from two former prime ministers – Raja Farooq Haider of the PML-N and Sardar Abdul Qayyum Niazi of PTI as well as the PML-N secretary general Chaudhry Tariq Farooq and AJK Supreme Court Bar Association President Raja Sajjad Ahmed. 

“Deployment of civil armed forces in the peaceful region of Azad Kashmir will create a negative impression and provide India an opportunity to propagate against the liberated territory. Therefore, it must be reserved immediately,” Mr Niazi said during a conversation with PTI workers in Tatta Pani.

He urged the government to find a solution to the problem through negotiations with the Joint Action Committee rather than using the force to the detriment of the interests of the state.

Mr Haider stressed upon the government to avoid using Frontier or Punjab constabularies in the state in general and in Poonch division in particular under any circumstances.

“The government should resolve the issues through dialogue and no step should be taken that India may exploit for propaganda against Pakistan and the Kashmiris,” he said. 

However, a detailed response was given by the Supreme Court Bar Association president, who castigated prime minister Haq for “breaching the provisions of the Constitution and Rules of Business enunciating the process for important decisions.” 

 “The government means the prime minister and the cabinet, and not just the prime minister. But ironically since April last year the state is being ruled by a wiseacre who has amassed all powers, including that of the appointment of a driver and peon, in himself in sheer disregard of the Constitution and the Rules of Business, to the detriment of the system,” he said of Mr Haq. 

"Summoning the civil armed forces from Pakistan in the name of the security of Chinese workers is unlawful and unconstitutional because the matter has not been placed before and approved by the cabinet," he maintained.  

Referring to the impression being spread by some circles that “the Action Committee’s protest enjoyed the backing of Indian agents and anti-state forces,” the SCBA president maintained that if the government possessed any substantial evidence in this regard, it should initiate legal proceedings against such elements which the entire legal fraternity would fully support. 

“However, the irony in this state is that whoever raises voice for the rights of people and state [AJK] is dubbed as traitor. I want to make it clear that neither are we [lawyers] against the state nor are we traitors. But we do not need certificates of patriotism from anyone,” he said.

“It’s not acceptable to dub those who are gulping down the resources like vultures as loyal and those who raise voice for the legitimate rights of common man as traitors.”

Tariq Naqash

Atif Bashir launches free Imran Khan committee in AJK

 

A staunch loyalist of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has constituted a committee to organise efforts across Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) and in Kashmiri diaspora community circles abroad for release of PTI’s founding chairman and former prime minister Imran Khan. 

Khawaja Atif Bashir, a former regional office bearer of PTI, told reporters that since Mr Khan had “fearlessly and zealously highlighted the cause of Kashmir at every international forum, it was incumbent upon every Kashmiri to play a vigorous role for his release.” 

“I have formed the ‘Free Imran Khan Committee’ to provide a platform to PTI loyalists, particularly the younger lot, within the state as well as abroad to raise voice for early freedom of the distinguished leader of Muslim Ummah,” he said. 

Mr Bashir informed that UK based Kashmiri activist, Hassan Shiba Naqvi, had been appointed as committee’s secretary to bring the overseas Kashmiris into the folds of this body and coordinate with like-minded people for a unified struggle for Mr Khan's release

“Shortly, the remaining office bearers of the committee will be picked from amongst the PTI members in other parts of the state and overseas,” he said. 

Mr Bashir announced that from the committee’s platform, protest camps and rallies would be held in all AJK cities and towns to apprise the public of the worst ever vendetta against the PTI founding chairman on the one hand and involve them in campaigning for his release on the other. 

Mr Bashir asserted that Imran Khan was a true patriotic leader and the politics of truth and fairness was his legacy. 

“As prime minister of Pakistan, he led the international voice in raising awareness on the grave consequences of consistent Islamophobia and hate speech and promoting inter-faith harmony,” he recalled.

Mr Khan’s consistent campaign had culminated in approval by the UN General Assembly of a resolution setting March 15 as the International Day to Combat Islamophobia, he added. 

“Khan sahib is a man of principles who – unlike his opponents - does not believe in the politics of deals,” 

Mr Bashir said adding, neither will the PTI founder pretend illness nor accept offers to quit the country. 

He said Mr Khan’s achievements at home and abroad and clear-headed approach had compelled the nation to give a historic mandate to the PTI in the recently held general elections in Pakistan, notwithstanding all kinds of conspiracies against the party coupled with pre and post poll rigging.

         Ironically, the mandate given by the people was stolen by the power-hungry parties, he said. 

According to Mr Bashir, Mr Khan was popular not only in the liberated territory of Jammu and Kashmir but also in the occupied territory, where Kashmiris had displayed posters and banners imprinted with his portraits. 

Mr Bashir expressed the hope that decision-makers in Pakistan would soon bow to public pressure and release the country’s most popular leader without further loss of time. 

Tariq Naqash

Tariq Farooq seeks party meeting following 'verbal assaults' on senior PML-N leader

Expressing anguish and indignation at a recent press talk by some members of the Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) cabinet, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) regional secretary general Chaudhry Tariq Farooq has urged regional president Shah Ghulam Qadir to immediately convene a joint meeting of the party’s legislators and office bearers to draw up a decisive course of action in this regard. 

On Wednesday, seven AJK ministers – three from the PTI renegades and two each from coalition partners PPP and PML-N – had held a joint press conference to shrug off, rather scoff at, the widely prevailing ‘speculations’ about the likeliness of no trust against Prime Minister Chaudhry Anwarul Haq. 

Though the ministers had avoided naming anyone, their comments had however left no doubt that they were trying to counter the narrative of PML-N vice president and former AJK premier Raja Farooq Haider, who has not only been publicly wigging PM Haq for his “ill-conceived policies” but has also been stressing upon PML-N’s early exit from the coalition government “to make good of the damages to its reputation among the masses.” 

However, while the PPP ministers expressed their views cautiously, the alleged “below the belt” assertions by senior minister Waqar Noor left a bad taste in the mouth of PML-N leaders and workers across the state. 

Mr Noor represents PML-N in the coalition government. Previously, from 2016 to 2021, he had served as a cabinet member in the Mr Haider led PML-N government. 

“…those making noise [about the change of government] in the state are the ones whose extortions have stopped… But nothing will happen, [because] the government cannot be changed according to someone’s personal wish… The prime minister will not succumb to blackmailing by anyone,” Mr Noor had said.  

Taking strong exception to the press talk, Mr Farooq, the PML-N regional secretary general, asserted that the government and some other elements were desperately trying to cause dissension and discord in his party.

“They are out to raise someone from within our party to fulfil their nefarious agenda. But let me declare again that their machinations are doomed to failure,” he said, in a statement on Sunday.  

Terming Mr Haider as a gifted and respectable political leader, Mr Farooq maintained that not only the PML-N workers but the majority of people across the state stood by the former premier’s standpoint on governance and exit from the coalition government. 

“There are however a few people practising the politics of expediency,” he said, but stopped short of specifically pointing out anyone. 

Referring to Mr Haider’s position on a no-trust motion against Mr Haq, Mr Farooq asserted that Mr Haider was genuinely concerned about the “escalation of negative sentiments and anti-Pakistan activities, closure of developmental activities as well as government’s hollow claims about austerity.”

“People across the liberated territory acknowledge and appreciate the political role of Raja Farooq Haider and hold him in high esteem. If the government takes any revengeful action against him or any other political figure, it will be strongly resisted. We will not leave the field open for anyone under any circumstances.” 

The PML-N secretary general pointed out that right from the formation of the coalition government, the PML-N parliamentary party was cut off from the party policy. 

He claimed that the regional PML-N leadership was under intense pressure from the workers that instead of sharing the burden of the failures of the coalition government for the sake of just four ministries, the PML-N should quit it without further ado. 

However, a final decision in this regard would be taken by party’s supreme leader Nawaz Sharif and president Shehbaz Sharif who would soon be apprised of the prevailing situation, particularly the repercussions of a further stay in the coalitions, he said.

He termed the senior minister Noor’s remarks at the press conference as painful for every PML-N worker. 

“Actually, after joining the Haq led government, the senior minister has pulled the plug on his relationship and contacts with the PML-N and its workers. Rather, he is equally involved in vindictive activities against the party workers,” he alleged.  

Mr Farooq stressed upon the regional president to immediately summon a meeting of office bearers to hold an in-depth discussion on the situation and work out a decisive future course of action.

“Any further delay in this regard is bound to multiply doubts and suspicion,” he warned.

By Tariq Naqash

K H Khurshid remembered on his 36th death anniversary

Senior and young political leaders from different schools of thought paid glowing tributes to the towering Kashmiri leader Khurshid Hassan Khurshid, commonly known as K H Khurshid, on the occasion of his 36^th death anniversary on Monday, acknowledging that his ideology was the only way forward for the long overdue liberation of Jammu and Kashmir from Indian subjugation. 

The death anniversary function was held in the Municipal Corporation Hall, yards away from the late leader’s tomb, which is a replica of the mausoleum of the founder of Pakistan Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah who Mr Khurshid had served as private secretary from 1944 to late 1947. 

In October 1947, the Quaid sent him to Srinagar reportedly with a task but there he was arrested and jailed by the Indian forces. He was finally repatriated in a prisoner exchange in 1949. 

On May 1, 1959, Mr Khurshid was appointed as AJK President in accordance with the procedure in vogue at that time. He accepted this office at the insistence of Ms Fatima Jinnah who treated him as her son and had also persuaded him to earn the bar-at-law degree from Lincoln’s Inn UK.

Two years after assuming the president's office, Mr Khurshid conducted the first ever elections under basic democracy system in AJK and also became the liberated territory's first elected president. 

In 1962, he founded a political party by the name of Jammu Kashmir Liberation League (JKLL) to ensure an all-out and focused struggle for liberation of India occupied Jammu and Kashmir.

The JKLL ideology called for recognition of the AJK government by Pakistan and other nations as a ‘revolutionary provisional successor government’ of the deposed Dogra ruler of the erstwhile princely state of Jammu and Kashmir, so that it could take the freedom movement to its logical end with a free hand.

However, the parochial power-hungry opponents of Mr Khurshid spared no effort to run a relentless smear campaign against him by wrongly dubbing his ideology averse to the interests of Pakistan. 

An icon of integrity, honesty, intelligence and sincerity, Mr Khurshid died in a road accident on GT Road while travelling in public transport on March 11, 1988 at age 64. At the time of his death, people found only Rs 37 in his pocket.    

“Khurshid sahib was a matchless leader who used his incredible leadership skills and acumen to lead the Kashmiri nation towards the true and practicable path to their freedom. Leaders like him are born in centuries,” said AJK Legislative Assembly Speaker and senior PPP leader Chaudhry Latif Akbar in his address as chief guest at the death anniversary function. 

“The honesty, integrity, principles, ideals, courage, bravery make him a role model for every Kashmiri, regardless of his faith, caste, creed and political affiliation,” he added. 

Mr Akbar maintained that the usefulness of Mr Khurshid’s ideology was now being acknowledged even by the people who had religiously opposed it tooth and nail for years together.

“If we have to break the status quo, we will have to take bold decisions because we can no longer afford more bloodbath across the bloody divide,” he said. 

Mr Akbar reiterated his suggestion to the new government in Islamabad to host a national Kashmir conference to devise a workable strategy in the wake of India’s arbitrary steps and machinations with regard to the occupied territory.

Speaking on the occasion, JKLL president Khawaja Manzoor Qadir maintained that only the ideology presented by K H Khurshid offered the way forward for settlement of the longstanding Kashmir issue.

"Our party would continue to enlighten the policy makers on the dividends of the implementation of this ideology. The sooner they realise it the better it would be for the nation which has offered hundreds of thousands of lives and other sacrifices for their freedom,” he said. 

The death anniversary function was also attended by the late leader’s daughter Yasmeen Khurshid. However, she declined to address it because of being overpowered by emotions. She was seen trying to hold back her tears for most of the time during the function. 

It may be recalled that on January 30 this year, Mr Khurshid’s widow – Begum Surraya Khurshid – had also breathed her last at age 94 after some medical complications. 

Earlier in the morning Quran Khawani was held at the mausoleum of Mr Khurshid. Throughout the day, political activists and common people also kept on visiting the mausoleum throughout the day to pay respects to the great leader and offer Fatiha for his deliverance.  

However, what was surprising for many on Monday was the presence of an army contingent at the mausoleum of Mr Khurshid – first time in 36 years – who presented a salute soon after a local military officer laid floral wreath on the grave on behalf of his institution. 

Tariq Naqash

AJK Council members point out infractions in transfer of assets

Begum Surraya Khurshid passes away in Lahore

Begum Surayya Khurshid – sister of eminent journalist and writer late Khalid Hasan and wife of the first elected president of Azad Jammu & Kashmir (AJK), Khurshid Hasan Khurshid - passed away in Lahore. She was 94.

Mrs Khurshid had been under treatment in the local Combined Military Hospital after a hip bone fracture more than a month ago where breathed her last in the morning, family sources said. 

Born in what’s now India occupied Jammu and Kashmir, Mrs Khurshid who had done her Masters in History from Kinnaird College, Lahore had tied the nuptial knot with her paternal cousin Mr Khurshid in Sialkot in December 1955.

A year earlier, Mr Khurshid, who had previously served as private secretary to the founder of Pakistan Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah during the epoch-making period of Pakistan movement, had returned from the UK where he had earned his barrister at law degree from the prestigious Lincoln’s Inn at the persuasion of Miss Fatima Jinnah who treated him like her son. 

After his return, he practiced law in Karachi and the couple spent initial years of their married life as members of Ms Jinnah's household – flagstaff house - in Karachi. 

As the then President Ayub Khan had been urging Mr Khurshid to become the AJK president, he accepted this office on the advice of Ms Jinnah in May 1959. He became the first ever elected president of AJK in 1961 after holding the first ever presidential elections, but resigned from the office in August 1964 following serious differences with president Khan.   

During their days in the presidency, Mrs Khurshid became a source of strength for her spouse and as the First Lady launched and inaugurated several projects for amelioration of Kashmiri women. 

  Mrs Khurshid was a towering political and literary personality in her own right. After the demise of Mr Khurshid in a road accident in 1988, she also looked after the affairs of Jammu Kashmir Liberation League (JKLL) - the party Mr Khurshid had founded in 1962. 

She also served as a member of the AJK Legislative Assembly for a brief stint from 1990-1991 against a reserved seat as nominee of the JKLL .  

Apart from a collection of short stories (amaltas ke pairr), she had authored ‘Banihal k us paar’, a memoir on her childhood across the divide, ‘Yaadon ki kehkashan’, recollection of times spent in the company of Ms Jinnah and some other books. Mrs Khurshid had also edited the biography of Ms Jinnah by the name ‘Fatima Jinnah ke shab o roz.’

Mrs Khurshid is survived by her two children - daughter Yasmeen Khurshid and son Khurram Khurshid - and grandchildren. 

Former BBC journalist and writer Shahid Malik, sitting caretaker federal minister Fawad Hasan Fawad and PTI spokesperson Rauf Hasan are also among her close relatives.

The funeral prayers of Mrs Khurshid will be held in Khalid Masjid, Cavalry Ground, Lahore after Zohar on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, while expressing grief over her demise, a number of Kashmiri leaders paid glowing tributes to Mrs Khurshid for her contribution to the cause of the oppressed Kashmiri nation. 

In their separate messages, AJK prime minister Chaudhry Anwarul Haq, his predecessors Sardar Tanveer Ilyas and Chaudhry Abdul Majeed, PML-N regional president Shah Ghulam Qadir, general secretary Chaudhry Tariq Farooq, Legislative Assembly Speaker Chaudhry Latif Akbar and others said the services of Mrs Khurshid as spouse of a legendary leader, the first lady and legislative assembly members will always be remembered by Kashmiri people. 

Tariq Naqash