Normalcy slowly returns in AJK as strike wanes

MUZAFFARABAD: Daily life began showing signs of improvement in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) as a weeks-long strike lost momentum, while the regional government prepared to present its budget for the next financial year in the Legislative Assembly.

At the same time, leaders of the proscribed Joint Awami Action Committee (JAAC) urged supporters to boycott next month’s elections, a move administration officials described as an effort to retain political relevance during the continuing standoff with the government.

A video circulating on social media showed a JAAC leader, whom Poonch Divisional Commissioner Sardar Waheed Khan identified as Umar Nazir Kashmiri, addressing supporters and questioning participation in what he called a fraudulent electoral exercise. After the way this game has been played with us, will you still take part in this sham and fraudulent election?" he says in the video.

The crowd in the video responded with ‘no’. Official sources said JAAC leaders were now using emotionally charged language to keep their supporters mobilised. Sardar Waheed said they appeared to believe that if public attention shifted toward election campaigning, the committee and its cause would lose importance.

Signs of life in Muzaffarabad

Authorities said routine activity had started to return in Muzaffarabad. Public transport was partially restored even though some traders’ representatives had said shops and markets would reopen over the weekend. The city, along with other parts of AJK, had been affected by the strike for several weeks.

Most markets in Muzaffarabad remained closed on Sunday, but a government official said this was because of the traders’ weekly holiday and expressed the hope that business activity would resume on Monday. Passenger transport also began to reappear, with most buses and other vehicles that had been off the roads for nearly three weeks returning to their terminals near the new bus stand.

Fuel availability, however, continued to slow the full restoration of transport services. Only a small number of petrol stations were open on Sunday, though officials said the problem was expected to be resolved on Monday. Transporters said they could not fully restart services because of the shortage and added that all routes would become operational once the government permitted regular fuel supplies to filling stations.

Budget to be tabled in assembly

The AJK government is expected to place its annual budget for the 2026-27 financial year before the Legislative Assembly today, one day before the end of the current fiscal year. Finance and Inland Revenue Minister Chaudhry Qasim Majeed is set to present the budget, which official sources said carries a proposed outlay of Rs286 billion.

According to those sources, the proposed budget includes Rs250 billion for recurring expenditure and Rs36 billion for development spending. The finance minister is also due to present revised estimates for the outgoing fiscal year, reducing the size of the current budget to Rs262.165 billion, including Rs230 billion for recurring expenditure and Rs32.165 billion for development.

The coalition government had approved a Rs310.2 billion budget for 2025-26 in June last year, with Rs49 billion allocated for development projects. The assembly sitting is expected to have limited attendance because many lawmakers are occupied with campaigning for the coming general elections. In line with the practice followed in the final year of previous legislative assemblies, the budget is expected to be approved the same day without debate before the house is dissolved for polls.