AJK PM Rathore urges dialogue to resolve AJK crisis, calls for end to ‘base camp’ mindset

MUZAFFARABAD: Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) Prime Minister Faisal Mumtaz Rathore on Saturday said the biggest challenge for the incoming government would be to deal with the situation caused by the proscribed Joint Awami Action Committee’s (JAAC) movement, stressing that dialogue was the only way to resolve the crisis.

Speaking to a group of journalists at Kashmir House, Rathore said the current situation in AJK could become “alarming” and expressed hope that it would be resolved after the formation of the new government. He added the PML-N would have a major responsibility in this regard.

Referring to the JAAC’s demands, he said while the body had been seeking the right to ownership, Poonch had ultimately been deprived of the right to representation.

“I had promised the action committee that four refugee seats would be abolished, but its leaders did not accept my advice,” he said. “Even eight seats could have been abolished, but they remained adamant.

“Had the action committee even given a hint, I would certainly have gone to Rawalakot,” Rathore added.

The AJK premier also endorsed PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari’s proposal to establish a truth and reconciliation commission, saying it could provide all stakeholders a way out of the crisis.

The regional government on June 5 declared the JAAC a proscribed organisation and placed it under the First Schedule of the region’s anti-terrorism act.

The notification by AJK’s Home Department said the group was “engaged in terrorism” and acted in a manner “prejudicial to peace and security” of the state.

It further stated that JAAC was involved in “creating anarchy in the state by intimidating public, promoting hatred and creating a sense of insecurity in society and public at large etc”.

Following the ban, local authorities launched a crackdown against the organisation, arresting scores of its leaders and activists from different areas.

PML-N ‘rushed’ into elections

He also alleged that the PML-N’s AJK leadership had rushed into the regional elections in its haste to acquire power.

“Our position was that peace should first be restored in the state and elections should be held afterwards, but the PML-N insisted on holding elections and forming the government at all costs,” Rathore said, adding that AJK was now facing multiple challenges as a result.

On the election results, Rathore said the PPP’s position was that it had not been provided a level playing field and alleged that various tactics had been used to ensure the PML-N’s victory. He claimed that some constituencies where the PPP had initially won were subsequently turned into defeats.

The central leadership of PPP and PML-N had held several meetings over election-related issues, and the PML-N had assured the PPP leadership that its complaints would be addressed, he added.

Defending the recent elections in his constituency, LA-17, Rathore claimed that Haveli was the only area where no rigging had taken place. He also rejected allegations of government interference in the elections, saying the PPP government had not interfered in the electoral process.

Rathore regretted that the elections in Haveli had been unnecessarily highlighted, adding that, in the context of the area’s electoral history, the 2026 polls had been “extremely peaceful”.

He recalled the 2011 elections, which had been followed by nearly a month of tension in the area, during which several shops were burnt and other property was damaged. The 2016 polls had also witnessed casualties and unrest and the 2021 elections, too, had been marked by tension, Rathore said.

Responding to allegations of rigging by his PML-N rival, Engineer Chaudhry Mohsin Aziz, Rathore said the PPP would respond to the allegations at every forum.

“If any candidate has a complaint about rigging, constitutional and legal forums, including election tribunals, are available. They can approach these forums with evidence,” he said. “On what basis could Chaudhry Mohsin have defeated me?”

He maintained that people in his constituency acknowledged his development work but attributed his electoral challenge to the small size of his clan.

“In other words, even the people of my constituency admit that I carried out development work there,” he said, pointing to the approval of a Danish school, a university, several roads and a power project in Haveli. “I had already said that if I lost, I would quit politics.”

Rathore also called for an overhaul of what he described as the region’s “obsolete” system of governance and urged people to move beyond the traditional notion of AJK being merely the “base camp” of the Kashmir freedom movement.

“We should now move beyond the thinking that Azad Kashmir is the base camp of the freedom movement,” he said. “Only when there is construction and development can it truly become a base camp.”

He deemed the existing system outdated and said it “could not continue any longer”, stressing the need to abandon traditional practices and focus on the region’s economic development, particularly through tourism and agriculture.

“The AJK setup is already a model when there is talk in Pakistan about smaller provinces,” he explained. “We have to get out of traditional practices and work for the development of the region.”

Polls are being held in three phases amid unrest in the region. So far, in the direct elections to 38 constituencies, the PML-N has secured 25 seats while the PPP won 12. The lone MLA-elect of the Awami Dast-o-Bazu party also joined hands with the PML-N, taking the alliance’s strength to 26.

The PML-N on Wednesday announced its candidates for seven of the eight reserved seats in the Azad Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly.

The special seats, for which elections have been scheduled for August 24, comprise five for women and one each for Ulema-i-Din or Mashaikh, Jammu and Kashmir state subjects residing abroad, and technocrats and other professionals.