1,505 Islamabad police deployed to AJK ahead of JAAC protest call on June 9

ISLAMABAD:

A total of 1,505 Islamabad policemen were deployed to Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) on Friday in view of a protest call by the Joint Awami Action Committee (JAAC) for June 9 as authorities moved to tighten security arrangements in the region ahead of the upcoming AJK elections, a spokesman confirmed.

According to police spokesman Taqi Jawad, the deployment was authorized by Islamabad’s Inspector General of Police Nasir Rizvi as part of a special security plan aimed at maintaining law and order.

The move comes hours after the AJK Election Commission announced that general elections to the AJK Legislative Assembly will be held on July 27. The commission added that preparations are underway to ensure transparent, orderly and impartial elections under judicial supervision.

The contingent includes senior officers as well as field formations, with a deputy inspector general, two senior police inspectors and four police inspectors among those sent to oversee operations on the ground. The force also includes eight Assistant Superintendents of Police/Deputy Superintendents of Police, 16 Inspectors, two Sub-Inspectors, 70 Assistant Sub-Inspectors and 1,382 Constables forming a multi-level security structure.

Jawad said personnel are being deployed in full anti-riot gear, while units from the Anti-Terrorism Branch, Safe City, Operations and Security Divisions have also been included in the event.

Security has been put on high alert across Azad Kashmir in view of the protest call by the Joint Awami Action Committee, with reserve forces kept on standby for further deployment if required.

Meanwhile, in a statement on X, Defense Minister Khawaja Asif said the demand to abolish 12 AJK assembly seats elected from Pakistan ahead of the election was “disrupting the electoral process” and called for such issues to be made public rather than being used to derail the vote.

“Democratic thinking requires that those who make this demand present it to the public on July 27,” he said, adding that voters should be allowed to determine and “shape the form of representation.”

He warned that raising such demands before voting would otherwise be seen as “blackmail”, arguing that electoral issues should be decided through a democratic mandate.

Referring to representation from Pakistan-based constituencies, Asif said Sialkot city and tehsil alone returns one seat to the AJK Assembly, while two National Assembly seats are also from the region, with other constituencies spread across Pakistan.

Read: JAAC boycotts APC as parties reject refugee seat proposal for AJK assembly

Highlighting the presence of a large number of Kashmiri migrants, especially from Jammu, he said they had settled in Sialkot after the partition in 1947 at great human cost. “In October 1947, more than two hundred thousand migrants arrived in Sialkot city and tehsil after sacrificing their lives,” he said, adding that many families endured decades of hardship and deprivation of basic amenities. “How can you deprive these migrants of their rights?” he asked, emphasizing that they had “paid a very high price for freedom.”

Asif said those raising concerns should pursue their goals through “a democratic route” to ensure acceptance of their views.

The disagreement over refugee seats resurfaces in AJK

AJK’s 53-member legislature includes 12 seats reserved for Kashmiri refugees – people who fled Indian-controlled Kashmir in 1947 and 1965 and are now spread across Pakistan. Six seats represent refugees from the Jammu division (~434,000 people) and six from the Kashmir Valley (~30,000 people) – an already lopsided arrangement that many see as unfair.

The issue of refugee representation has long been a central demand of JAAC, leading to a series of protests last year that turned violent and resulted in several deaths.

The region experienced one of its most turbulent periods last October, when protests led by JAAC broke out over demands for constitutional and government reforms. At least nine people, including three policemen, were killed during the unrest.

JAAC, which organized the protests and strike, had presented a comprehensive charter of demands, including an end to the privileges enjoyed by the ruling elite, the abolition of 12 assembly spaces reserved for refugees and the abolition of the quota system.

Two days after the violence, the government and JAAC reached an agreement covering 12 core points and 13 additional points. Under the agreement, both sides agreed to set up a high-level committee to look into the issue of refugee seats in the AJK Legislative Assembly.

The unrest also triggered political upheaval in the region. The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) subsequently moved a no-confidence motion against the then Prime Minister Chaudhry Anwarul Haq, with the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) participating in the effort. Haq, who had been elected in April 2023 with 48 votes, chose to face the vote rather than resign.

On 17 November, Raja Faisal Mumtaz Rathore secured 36 votes in the election and became the 16th Prime Minister of Azad Jammu and Kashmir.

With elections now approaching and the refugee seat issue still unresolved, the AJK government convened an All Parties Conference (APC) in Muzaffarabad to build consensus. Almost all major parties participated – except PTI and JAAC, which boycotted it.

JAAC’s position is that the government had already rejected its written proposal submitted on May 30, so it would be futile to participate. It had proposed either to retain token refugee representation until the Kashmir dispute is permanently resolved, or to replace the 12 seats in the Assembly with 4 seats in the AJK Council – a body headed by the Prime Minister, which it argued would better preserve the political dimension of the Kashmir issue.

The APC rejected any change outside the constitutional and legislative framework, saying only the elected assembly could change refugee seating arrangements. The JAAC called the resolution “a page and a half of completely trivial lines” and accused participants of coming together to serve their own interests rather than those of the public.

JAAC called for a major protest on June 9 in Muzaffarabad, where caravans are converging from across the region.