As elections wrap up in Gilgit-Baltistan, another mountainous constituency is entering a phase of political unrest. Azad Jammu and Kashmir is once again grappling with the Joint Awami Action Committee and a set of demands that may deserve to be heard, but which have also become tied to a cycle of confrontation, shutdowns, crackdowns and violence. This cycle must end before it causes deeper damage.
Bilawal's meeting a necessary step
PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari's decision to meet Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif is therefore a necessary step. The PPP holds the majority in the AJK Legislative Assembly, while the PML-N leads the government at the centre. Whatever their rivalries elsewhere, both parties have a duty to set politics aside and act with maturity. AJK cannot be treated as another arena for partisan calculation. It requires negotiation, restraint and serious statecraft.
JAAC must recognize the line between protest and disorder
The JAAC, too, must recognise the line between protest and disorder. Its concerns, whether over governance, public welfare or legislative representation, have the right to be placed before the public and institutions. But no movement can claim democratic legitimacy while allowing violence or lawlessness to define its methods. This is particularly true in AJK, where any breakdown in order will never be viewed in isolation. Given the region's proximity to Indian-occupied Kashmir and its place in the wider Kashmir dispute, instability will inevitably be read through a strategic lens, not merely a democratic one.
Government's stance and the need for transparent engagement
The government says most of JAAC's earlier demands have already been fulfilled and that the remaining issues can be addressed through the assembly, courts or political dialogue. If that is so, the burden is now on both sides to prove it through transparent engagement, not competing narratives. Arrests and proscription may restore temporary control, but they cannot substitute for political settlement. This is the moment for the supposed masters of statecraft in both major parties to come to the fore. AJK needs calm, dialogue and constitutional process, not another descent into confrontation. The protest call must be handled with firmness where necessary, but also with wisdom.
