Police and security personnel arrested the banned JAAC’s central leader in Dhirkot as authorities continue a crackdown following the group’s prohibition under anti-terrorism laws and ahead of the July 27 AJK elections.
DHIRKOT: Police and security personnel on Tuesday arrested Shaukat Nawaz Mir, a central leader of the banned Jammu Kashmir Joint Awami Action Committee (JAAC), along with one of his associates in Dhirkot, according to Muzaffarabad Deputy Commissioner Munir Qureshi.
The deputy commissioner said Mir was taken into custody during a joint operation in the Hail Sarang area of Dhirkot. Officials did not immediately disclose the identity of the associate or provide further details regarding the arrests.
The arrests come amid an ongoing crackdown on the JAAC after the Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) government formally banned the organisation on June 5 under the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA) following a series of violent protests.
The latest campaign launched by the banned group has focused on demanding the abolition of the 12 seats in the Azad Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly reserved for refugees from Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) who migrated to Pakistan after 1947.
Federal authorities have strongly opposed the demand, describing it as an attempt to undermine the electoral process ahead of the July 27 elections for the 53-member AJK Legislative Assembly.
Earlier this month, an All Parties Conference (APC) held at the Prime Minister’s Secretariat in Muzaffarabad unanimously rejected the proposal to abolish the reserved refugee seats. Political leaders participating in the conference maintained that any constitutional amendments or electoral reforms fall exclusively within the authority of elected representatives and should not be pursued through extra-parliamentary pressure.
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