Khawaja Asif urges JAAC to take AJK refugee seat issue to voters

ISLAMABAD: Defence Minister Khawaja Asif on Thursday asked the now-proscribed Joint Awami Action Committee (JAAC) to place its demand for the abolition of 12 refugee seats in Azad Jammu and Kashmir before the electorate, saying the matter should be decided through the democratic process rather than pressure.

Addressing the National Assembly, Asif said the issue should be taken to voters in the upcoming AJK elections scheduled for July 27. He urged the group to seek public support on the question and said he did not understand why it wanted the matter settled in advance, arguing that such an approach appeared intended to shape the assembly’s composition according to its preference.

Defence of refugee representation

Asif said Kashmiri refugees living in Pakistan had made major sacrifices by migrating and maintained that no one had the authority to seek the removal of their voting rights. He said the existing status of AJK had been secured through the sacrifices of the Pakistan armed forces and people from across the country, not only by Kashmiris, and added that 250 million Pakistanis had a stake in the region.

Speaking in the House, the minister said nearly every family in Pakistan had a connection to sacrifices made for Kashmir. He also criticised those calling for the removal of the seats, questioning their contribution to the Kashmir cause.

"The AJK that we have today is due to the sacrifices made by the Pakistan armed forces and people from across the country, not just Kashmiris," the defence minister said.

"Does that mean nothing? I do not want to take names, but what have they sacrificed for Kashmir? They do not have any stake, nor have they invested anything in the liberation of Kashmir," he added.

Call for legal and political resolution

Asif warned against taking matters into one’s own hands and said the government could not be expected to remain silent if the law was violated. He said disagreements over the issue should be discussed and resolved within the Legislative Assembly.

Recalling his interaction with Kashmiri refugees in his constituency, the minister said many of them had long been denied basic services such as electricity and gas because their legal status had remained uncertain. He said that status was later finalised, and added that dialogue was the only workable way forward.

He also made an apparent reference to the Line of Control while commenting on the tensions surrounding the issue. "I wonder if this hatred has been imported from across the line," Asif said.

Reaffirming his stance, the minister said the identity and electoral rights of Kashmiri refugees could not be withdrawn and asked how they could be excluded from the electoral process. He added that the term Azad in Azad Kashmir itself had been preserved through Pakistan’s support and sacrifices, saying soldiers defending Kashmir on mountain posts belonged to all parts of the country, including Punjab, Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Sindh. "The word Azad would not have been there if it were not for Pakistan," he said.