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PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, whose party holds the majority in the Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) Legislative Assembly, said on Sunday he would meet Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif over the current situation in AJK, asserting that issues would be resolved through talks. He said this while presiding over a meeting of the PPP AJK parliamentary party in Islamabad, a statement issued by the PPP said. The meeting was held as tensions gripped AJK, with the region’s government declaring the Joint Awami Action Committee (JAAC) a proscribed organisation and the latter insisting on its demand to abolish 12 refugee seats in the AJK Legislative Assembly. The group also plans to hold a protest on June 9, days ahead of June 27 elections in the region. The PPP statement said the party’s political affairs in-charge Faryal Talpur was also present at the meeting on Sunday where the political situation in AJK was reviewed. “Consultations were held between Bilawal and parliamentary party members regarding the AJK situation,” it said, adding that parliamentary party members gave recommendations to Talpur on the matter. According to the statement, Bilawal expressed concern over the situation in AJK. “We have always prioritised the issues of Kashmiris,” he was quoted as saying. He added that political issues should be resolved through negotiations. “I will meet PM Shehbaz and a solution to the issues would be found through talks and the assembly,” he said. The meeting was held as AJK police sealed the head office of the JAAC , state broadcaster Radio Pakistan reported. A day earlier, AJK authorities launched a crackdown on the JAAC, arresting scores of its leaders and activists from different areas. On Friday, the AJK government declared JAAC a proscribed organisation, days ahead of a planned protest by the group scheduled for June 9, stating that it was “engaged in terrorism” and had acted in a manner “prejudicial to peace and security” of the state. The group’s latest protest call centres on a highly contentious demand to abolish the 12 seats in the region’s Legislative Assembly that are reserved for refugees from Indian-occupied Jammu and Kashmir who settled in mainland Pakistan after 1947. JAAC alleges that these seats were often used by mainstream Pakistani political parties to influence the formation of governments in Muzaffarabad. On Thursday, the AJK Legislative Assembly strongly defended the status quo , backing the refugee seats and calling for elections to proceed on schedule. Meanwhile, Islamabad dispatched federal paramilitary forces to reinforce the region’s thinly stretched police force. AJK authorities have also advised intending visitors to postpone their trips until June 20, citing security concerns ahead of the planned protests. ‘Most demands fulfilled’ Earlier on Sunday, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Tariq Fazal Chaudhry maintained that most of the Joint Awami Action Committee’s (JAAC) demands, agreed between the JAAC and the government last October, had been fulfilled. “Thirty-five out of 38 demands have been implemented,” he said while addressing a press conference in Islamabad. About the remaining demands, he said the courts had issued an order regarding some and others were not feasible. He claimed “negative propaganda is being spread that the government has fulfilled only three out of 38 demands,” emphasising that the solution to the issues could not be “violent demonstrations” and dialogue should be the way forward. The minister asked if the unrest was an attempt at “portraying Pakistan and AJK as separate entities; is it an attempt to weaken Pakistan’s relation with AJK; is it an attempt to create hatred between refugees from India-occupied Kashmir and the people of AJK; and lastly, is this an attempt to weaken the Kashmir cause?” He claimed that the government had not disregarded the JAAC’s demands; however, he pointed out that, “when we talk to them about resolving issues through dialogue, they respond with violent demonstrations; these are two contradictory approaches”. “The clauses that are yet to be implemented, we can still sit down and talk about them,” he said, reiterating that the solution was not violence and taking law and order into one’s hands. At the outset of the press conference, Chaudhry said that certain actors were attempting to create unrest ahead of the July 27 elections in AJK. “Attempts are being made that the violent protests that have happened in the region in the past can be revived,” Chaudhry said, recalling the unrest in the region in September-October 2025. He recalled that the JAAC was formed in September 2023 and at the time, they had three demands: subsidy on flour, decrease in electricity prices and reduction in elite privileges. “As a result of that, we saw a shutter-down strike in 2024 in AJK, accompanied by violent demonstrations,” the minister recalled, stating that the government had fulfilled all the demands at the time. He further stated that the demonstrations broke out again in September 2025, and a charter of demands was presented, listing 38 clauses, following which the government signed an agreement with the JAAC on October 4. He added that he, along with the Minister for Kashmir Affairs and Gilgit-Baltistan Amir Muqam, had been holding monthly meetings with JAAC to review progress on the agreement. However, JAAC still put out a fresh call for protests on June 9, he noted. Chaudhry recalled that on May 30, a committee comprising federal ministers met the JAAC in Muzaffarabad, where the demand for abolishing 12 refugee seats was put forward. He said that the government’s representatives had also suggested that an all parties meeting be called to debate the matter. “Around 2-2.2 million Kashmiri refugees are living in Pakistan, and 12 people sitting in a closed room cannot abolish those seats,” the minister asserted, adding that the JAAC’s other demands related to public welfare had been fulfilled. Chaudhry also said the government’s representatives suggested that the issue should be discussed in the AJK Legislative Assembly or taken to the AJK Supreme Court. “We requested [during the May 30 meeting] that the June 9 protest be postponed by 8-10 days so that we may hold consultations with our senior leadership and work towards a solution,” the minister said, affirming that the government had never refused to discuss the status of the seats. Asserting that 35 out of JAAC’s 38 demands had been fulfilled by the government, including withdrawal of first information reports (FIR) against JAAC demonstrators, reinstating government employees who took part in the demonstrations, a feasibility study on the Kahuta Azad Pattan road in the Sandhoti district, procurement of electricity meters via e-tenders, internet connectivity issues, and establishment of a garbage collection system. As per the minister, some of the other demands fulfilled by the government included amendments in the local government laws, establishment of two new federal boards, and restoration of the health card facility for AJK, among others. He added that while many of the demands in the agreement could be implemented through executive orders — around 18-19 — the rest included ongoing development projects which “cannot be completed within 3-4 months”. “It is not justified to hold long marches every six months under such circumstances,” the minister said.
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