A day after ten precious lives were lost in clashes between the law enforcing agencies and protestors, a window of opportunity for peaceful resolution of the deadlock opened on Wednesday when the proscribed Joint Awami Action Committee (JAAC) took appreciable decision to halt its planned long march towards Muzaffarabad to give time for back channel negotiations to succeed. Contrary to widespread fears of fresh violence, no untoward incident was reported from the troubled districts of Poonch and Sudhnoti during the day, while life remained normal across the rest of Azad Kashmir.
Media reports suggest that the decision to defer the march for a week was taken in view of the progress made in three rounds of back channel contacts in which understanding was reached on most of the agenda items. These claim a few outstanding issues remain and once these are resolved, the understanding will be formalized and the ongoing sit-in is expected to end. The credibility of these reports is confirmed by the remarks made by one of the JAAC leaders Umar Nazir Kashmiri during his address to protestors who hoped that the matters agreed upon in principle will be amicably settled during this period (one week deadline for deferment of the march). We hope that any understanding reached will take care of the genuine demands of the protestors and a firm commitment not to challenge the writ of the state. The AJK Government has accused JAAC of running coordinated social media campaigns based on baseless claims and propaganda to incite people against the state and undermine peace in the region. If this was the case then why the authorities imposed an Internet blackout in Azad Jammu & Kashmir, which is creating immense difficulties for online activities both in AJK and adjoining regions of Punjab and KP.
