MUZAFFARABAD — Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) remained under a tense, fragile calm Thursday as a high-level federal delegation resumed negotiations with leaders of the Jammu Kashmir Joint Awami Action Committee (JKJAAC), days after violent protests left multiple people dead and scores injured.
Under a blanket communications blackout imposed since late September, mobile phone and internet services have been suspended across large parts of the territory — a measure the protesters had demanded be lifted as a precondition for further talks.
The federal team, dispatched on the orders of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, includes heavyweights such as Ahsan Iqbal, Rana Sanaullah, Amir Muqam, and Raja Pervaiz Ashraf, alongside PPP figures Qamar Zaman Kaira and former AJK President Masood Khan. They were joined by the AJK Prime Minister Chaudhry Anwar-ul Haq.
At the table, JKJAAC was represented by its core Muzaffarabad division — Shaukat Nawaz Mir, Amjad Ali Khan, and Anjum Zaman Awan — though senior leaders from Poonch and Mirpur were still en route for consultations.
Death toll and claims dispute
Authorities confirm that nine people have died in the unrest, including three police officers, and that 172 police personnel have been injured (12 reportedly in critical condition).
The JKJAAC counters that at least 12 of its supporters lost their lives and accuses the security forces of using excessive force.
The spark for the unrest was a 38-point charter of demands advanced by JKJAAC, which calls for the rollback of elite privileges, the dissolution of 12 reserved seats for Kashmiri refugees in the Legislative Assembly, and revenue sharing of hydropower projects, among other changes.
In prior statements, government officials claim they have already acceded to roughly 90 percent of the demands, arguing that the remaining items must be addressed by legislative action.
Negotiations stall and resume
While early session talks were described by officials as held in a “cordial and constructive atmosphere,” JKJAAC leaders insisted no further progress could be made until communication lines were restored and internal deliberations concluded.
Late Thursday, the JKJAAC core committee decamped from Muzaffarabad to Dhirkot to meet with counterparts from Mirpur and Poonch before resuming talks Friday morning.
In Islamabad, government negotiators—including Ahsan Iqbal, Amir Muqam and Qamar Zaman Kaira—expressed optimism that a compromise remains within reach. “Problems should be solved at the table, not on the streets,” Kaira urged.
Prime Minister Shehbaz has directed security forces to act with restraint and promised prompt relief for the victims’ families, while insisting that violence will yield nothing but further bloodshed.
As convoys of protesters continued to converge on Muzaffarabad via long marches from across the region — including one stalled by roadblocks near Dulai — the stakes remain high.
With tension high and lives on the line, both sides face a moment of reckoning. Will they commit the political will to an accord, or will the streets become the only battleground left?
