KARACHI:

Prime Minister Raja Faisal Mumtaz Rathore has offered to restart negotiations with the JAAC, urging protesters to return to the dialogue table.

Meanwhile, fatal clashes in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) have sparked competing accounts over casualties, governance grievances and political legitimacy, with official sources confirming at least seven deaths.

According to official statements, recent unrest in areas including Rawalakot involved confrontations between law enforcement personnel and activists associated with the proscribed Jammu Kashmir Joint Awami Action Committee (JAAC).

Authorities said the situation escalated during a planned long march attempt over the weekend, triggering heavy security deployment and subsequent clashes on the ground.

Police sources maintain that six security personnel, including three from Rawalakot police and one Frontier Constabulary member, were killed in separate incidents since June 6.

Officials further claim that three protesters lost their lives due to internal firing during confrontations.

Civil society representatives and political observers argue that the absence of real-time reporting from remote regions of AJK has created an “information vacuum”, enabling unverified claims and heightened speculation to circulate widely on digital platforms.

“There is a widening gap between ground reality and online narratives,” said a senior journalist familiar with the region, noting that restricted mobility for media personnel has historically contributed to information asymmetry in the area.

The confrontation reportedly intensified when protesters attempted to proceed with a long march toward Rawalakot, prompting security deployments and resulting in violent clashes.

Authorities maintained that law enforcement exercised “restraint and proportional response”.

Dialogue with proscribed committee

Meanwhile, as tensions persist, competing political narratives have emerged over whether dialogue with the proscribed committee is legally and politically viable.

Former chief justice of the region, Chaudhry Ibrahim Zia, said engagement remains the only sustainable option. “Negotiation is the only solution to any conflict. It can take place with any party,” he said, stressing the need for restraint given the region’s sensitivity.

Similarly, representatives of the Kashmir Bar Association argued that legal designation does not preclude political engagement aimed at restoring stability. Senior lawyer Haroon Riaz Mughal said that even opposing sides in armed conflicts eventually enter negotiations, adding that “dialogue is essential for peace and long-term stability”.

Legal fraternity members and regional bar councils have jointly called for de-escalation and urged stakeholders to pursue constitutional and political solutions.

A press conference held in Islamabad also expressed concern over the deteriorating situation and demanded immediate dialogue between authorities and protest leadership.

The JAAC, which organised the protests and strike, had presented a wide-ranging charter of demands, including an end to the privileges enjoyed by the ruling elite, the abolition of 12 assembly seats reserved for refugees, and the scrapping of the quota system.

On the other hand, the establishment and its representative political parties argue that eliminating those seats is only possible if the demanding party contests elections and enters the assembly through electoral victory.

That is practically difficult because whichever side those 12 seats from Punjab and Sindh lean toward will determine the outcome of elections, and those 12 members will never vote against their own existence.

This raises the question: what is more important, the clear will of the people or the rituals of any political system, democracy in this case?

This is therefore a moment for all segments of society to apply reason and allow a functional balance to emerge among its various components, where the public, the assembly, and the armed forces each play their constitutionally defined roles in ensuring a stable and balanced society.

Meanwhile, political developments indicate an attempt to de-escalate tensions. Prime Minister Raja Faisal Mumtaz Rathore has offered to restart negotiations with the JAAC, urging protesters to return to the dialogue table.

“The people protesting in AJK are our own. No doubt about it. Agents and traitors? I don’t think so. Disillusioned? Naturally. Misguided? Surely,” stated AJK PM in an X post.

“Come and sit with us. This is not a problem that cannot be resolved at the cost of human lives,” Kashmir PM said in a televised interview, adding that past negotiations had collapsed over unresolved clauses.

Rathore also acknowledged that while some protest demands, particularly related to refugee seats, require careful review, the solution must come through discussion rather than confrontation.

Separately, a group of British parliamentarians reportedly wrote to the UK Foreign Office expressing concern over the situation in AJK and calling for diplomatic engagement.