AJK says operation under way to reopen routes blocked by banned JAAC

ISLAMABAD: The Azad Jammu and Kashmir government said on Tuesday that authorities had launched an operation to remove blockades at entry and exit points allegedly created by the banned Jammu and Kashmir Awami Action Committee, with officials saying the drive would continue until all roads were reopened.

Addressing a press conference, AJK Home Secretary Chaudhry Guftar Hussain said the administration was committed to safeguarding lives and property and restoring normal activity across the region, including economic, educational and business operations. He warned that the government would not yield to threats.

At the press conference, Hussain said:

The clearance operation will continue until all routes are opened,

He also said:

The state is committed to protecting human lives and property against all threats and to ensuring the continuation of economic, educational and business activities, and restoring normalcy across the region,

Warning those behind the disruption, he added:

The state will not accept any threat or blackmail, and all blackmailers will be treated with an iron hand,

Rawalakot incident

Hussain shared the government’s account of a violent incident in Rawalakot earlier in the day, saying JAAC activists had opened fire in an attempt to provoke residents and spread fear. According to him, police moved in to stop the firing but came under attack from an armed group using automatic weapons and explosives.

He said law enforcement agencies then began an operation, with Rangers arriving to support police. According to the home secretary, one security official was killed and another was injured after personnel were attacked with what he described as modern weapons and improvised explosives. He said an operation was necessary to clear the area because the group possessed advanced weaponry.

On the wider situation, Hussain said proscribed JAAC leader Khwaja Mehran had again issued a 48-hour deadline to shut all entry points into the state. He maintained, however, that most people had distanced themselves from the group and that it did not have the capacity to paralyse the state by closing access routes. He accused the outfit of trying to mislead the public through threats and propaganda.

The home secretary said the disruptions linked to JAAC had caused losses worth billions of rupees to the AJK government and had hurt tourism, trade and transport. He also announced that the banking system in the territory had been restored after what he described as timely intervention by the authorities.

Education and public activity

AJK’s education secretary said the banned organisation was attempting to draw women, children and students into the unrest and use them as human shields. He said the government had written to educational institutions and instructed their administrations to stop students from participating in violent protests.

Hussain also said all higher educational institutions across AJK, including medical colleges, had reopened from Tuesday. He added that people in the region wanted peace, stability and progress rather than unrest.

The latest development follows continued tensions surrounding the banned group. Earlier this week, a former core member of the proscribed JAAC asked its leadership to immediately withdraw its call for a long march and sit-in in Rawalakot, saying the month-long agitation had caused serious hardship in Poonch, where several people had lost their lives.

On Saturday, officials said at least one man was killed and several others were injured in clashes between protesters and law enforcement personnel on a key road linking Arja and Rawalakot. On June 5, after JAAC announced a strike for June 9, the AJK government declared the body a proscribed organisation. The following day, authorities launched a crackdown and detained scores of its leaders and activists from different areas.