PML-N AJK to engage with action committee for resolving issues

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Azad Jammu and Kashmir chapter on Sunday unanimously decided to actively engage with the AJK Joint Action Committee for resolving issues through negotiations.

The leadership of PML-N Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) held an urgent meeting at the Kashmir Council here Sunday, with Federal Minister for Kashmir Affairs and Gilgit-Baltistan Engineer Amir Muqam in the chair, to thoroughly deliberate on the present situation in Azad Kashmir.

The federal minister stressed the importance of the PML-N and other parties in peaceful resolving the issue. He affirmed their commitment to address the concerns of Kashmiris and vowed to contribute positively in any capacity possible.

The meeting also called upon the Azad Jammu and Kashmir government to actively participate in resolving the problem.

In a later segment of the meeting, the forum paid respects to the martyred police officer ASI Adnan Qureshi and conveyed heartfelt condolences to his family. They offered prayers and recited Fatiha for ASI Qureshi, while also praying for the speedy recovery of those injured.

The meeting was attended by Shah Ghulam Qadir, the PML-N AJK President, along with former AJK Prime Minister Raja Muhammad Farooq Haider Khan, Secretary General Chaudhry Tariq Farooq, Vice Presidents Chaudhry Muhammad Aziz and Dr. Najeeb Naqi, Central Deputy General Secretary Abdul Khaliq Wasi and Information Secretary Barrister Iftikhar Gilani.

Azad Kashmir witnessed violent clashes between the police and activists of a rights movement amid a wheel-jam and shutter-down strike across the territory, which left at least one police official dead and several others injured.

Read More: AJK protests: Govt ‘accepts’ all demands following violent clashes

Sub-inspector Adnan Qureshi succumbed to a gunshot wound in the chest in the town of Islamgarh, where he was deployed to stop a rally for Muzaffarabad under the banner of the Jammu Kashmir Joint Awami Action Committee (JAAC).

The JAAC, which has traders at the forefront in most parts of the state, has been seeking the provision of electricity as per hydropower generation cost in AJK, subsidised wheat flour and an end to the privileges of the elite class.

The violent protesters damaged multiple vehicles, including a magistrate’s car at the Poonch-Kotli road. Moreover, markets, trade centres, offices and schools and restaurants remained closed across the AJK.