Bar ensures legal aid for people involved in violence if they surrender before law enforcement
The Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) on Saturday warned individuals involved in disturbing the peace, violence, damaging government property and causing loss of lives to immediately surrender and face the law while ensuring full legal assistance to those doing so.
Tensions have risen in AJK following recent deadly clashes that have fueled competing narratives of victims, government grievances and political legitimacy. Official sources have confirmed at least seven deaths.
Officials said that despite claims of peaceful intentions, certain elements have continued to engage in violent activities. The same elements, they added, have previously been involved in damage to public property and attacks that resulted in the martyrdom and injuries of security personnel.
Read: AJK reinstates 177 FIRs against JAAC members over violation of Oct ’25 agreement
In a statement issued by AJK SCBA President Raja Aftab Ahmed Advocate, it said those involved in armed attacks and acts that undermine public order must surrender without delay.
He said: “Individuals involved in disturbing the peace, launching armed attacks, damaging government property and causing loss of life must immediately surrender and face the law.”
He added that those challenging the state’s summons not only endangered human lives but also committed a serious crime amounting to treason. He urged such persons to hand themselves over to the authorities and added that the lawyer would provide full legal assistance to them in the courts of Azad Kashmir.
Background
The recent unrest and deadly clashes in areas including Rawalakot where the recently banned Joint Awami Action Committee (JAAC) had staged a sit-in outside the Combined Military Hospital Rawalakot. AJK police claim that armed JAAC members opened fire on deployed law enforcers in a planned attack, leaving four people dead and around 20 injured. JAAC, however, disputes this account and claims that security forces used tear gas and fired grenades at the hospital.
According to the AJK police, three people associated with JAAC and four policemen were killed during the protests on Sunday. However, JAAC said in a statement on the X that seven people were killed and dozens were injured when street shelling was carried out in the dark after power was reportedly cut.
The clash on Sunday came as the AJK government and the JAAC witnessed a face-off when the election date for AJK was announced on July 27.
Read more: Certain elements seeking to destabilize AJK despite repeated offers of dialogue: Rana Sanaullah
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 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.
Read more: Four policemen martyred, over 20 injured in Rawalakot firing: AJK Police
The unrest also triggered political upheaval in the region. The PPP subsequently presented a no-confidence motion against the then Prime Minister Chaudhry Anwarul Haq, with the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz 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, 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.
