JAAC leaders urged to drop June 9 strike, continue talks

MUZAFFARABAD: The federal government and the Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) government on Monday asked the Jammu Kashmir Joint Awami Action Committee (JAAC) to refrain from its planned June 9 strike and keep pursuing its demands through dialogue after what officials described as constructive talks in Muzaffarabad.

A meeting lasting around three hours was held at the Civil Secretariat and attended by Federal Minister for Kashmir Affairs and Gilgit-Baltistan Amir Muqam, Federal Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Dr Tariq Fazal Chaudhry, AJK Finance Minister Chaudhry Qasim Majeed, AJK Minister for Elementary and Secondary Education Deewan Ali Chughtai, and JAAC core members Shaukat Nawaz Mir, Umar Nazir Kashmiri and Imtiaz Aslam.

Speaking at a joint press conference alongside the two AJK ministers after the meeting, Mr Muqam said six meetings had so far taken place between representatives of the federal government, the AJK government and the JAAC to review implementation of a 37-point agreement reached last year following violent protests over inflation, electricity tariffs and wheat subsidy issues. "Such swift implementation has no precedent in our political history, he said, while also commending the AJK government for what he called its day-and-night efforts to implement the accord.

According to Mr Muqam, most of the agreed points had either already been carried out or were under implementation. He listed among them the withdrawal of 177 FIRs against protesters, compensation for those killed or injured during last year’s unrest, a reduction in the number of ministers and government departments, approval of the accountability act, and progress on wheat subsidy and tax-related matters.

He said some issues still required legal and procedural completion, but maintained that work on all points was moving ahead quickly.

On the JAAC’s opposition to the 12 legislative assembly seats reserved for Pakistan-based refugees from Indian-occupied Jammu and Kashmir, Mr Muqam said the matter had been referred to a special committee made up of representatives of the federal government, the AJK government and the JAAC.

JAAC rejects government assessment

Shortly after the government’s press conference, JAAC leaders Shaukat Nawaz Mir, Umar Nazir Kashmiri and Amjad Ali Khan held a separate media briefing in which they rejected the official account of substantial progress and said their call for a territory-wide protest, shutter-down and wheel-jam strike on June 9 remained unchanged.

The JAAC leaders accused the government of repeatedly backing away from agreements and using delaying tactics. They said public demands remained unresolved and that the government had confined itself to announcements and assurances, while inflation, unemployment and the electricity crisis were making life harder for ordinary people.

"Not a single issue agreed upon in the January meeting with ministers has seen any progress," Kashmiri said, adding that officials were still offering vague assurances without giving timelines for implementation.

"We have clearly told them today that our June 9 call stands," he said, adding that the JAAC would pull out of talks after May 31 if electoral reforms and other demands included in its charter were not implemented.

Mr Mir said that despite earlier assurances, no payments had been made to the insurance company for the health card scheme since January.

"How can treatment continue under the health card scheme if the insurance company is not being paid?" he asked.

Mr Khan also repeated the committee’s position that removing the 12 refugee seats would not harm the Kashmir freedom movement because, under the AJK Constitution, neither the AJK government nor the legislative assembly had any direct role in it.

The two sides thus presented sharply different assessments of progress on the agreement, with the governments urging continued engagement and the JAAC warning that the June 9 strike would go ahead if its demands were not met by May 31.