Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) Home Secretary has said that an operation has become inevitable to restore peace and free the public from miscreants, alleging that armed groups of the banned Awami Action Committee are using advanced automatic weapons and explosive materials.
Addressing a press conference alongside the Secretary of Elementary and Secondary Education, the Home Secretary said the banned Awami Action Committee has been disrupting peace and normal life across Azad Kashmir for the past 38 days. He alleged that, under the guise of protesting for rights, the group has adopted intimidation and blackmail as a permanent political strategy.
He claimed that the organization’s objective is to promote an anti-Pakistan narrative and make derogatory remarks against the Pakistan Armed Forces, while deliberately attempting to damage the historical relationship between Pakistan and Kashmir. He further alleged that traders are being threatened into shutting down markets and that the group’s actions have made life difficult for ordinary citizens.
The Home Secretary also accused the group of using students, women, and children as human shields. He alleged that students are being forced away from their education and pushed into protests and disruptive political activities.
He said that normal life has been restored in most parts of the state and that all educational institutions have resumed operations. According to him, state institutions are fully mobilized to respond, in accordance with the law, to all forms of blackmail, intimidation, and unrest.
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The Home Secretary further alleged that Khawaja Mehran, identified as the leader of the banned organization, had issued a 48-hour deadline to block the entry points of Azad Kashmir. He said such tactics were not new and that similar threats had failed in the past. He also claimed that the overwhelming majority of the people of Azad Kashmir have distanced themselves from the banned organization and rejected its disruptive agenda.
He said previous protests by the banned committee had already caused economic losses worth billions of rupees to Azad Kashmir. According to the Home Secretary, armed individuals opened indiscriminate fire on civilians early in the morning at the Matial Mehra Bus Terminal in Rawalakot. He alleged that when police arrived to stop the firing, the armed groups attacked law enforcement personnel with automatic weapons and explosives, prompting security forces to immediately launch an operation against them.
He said Rangers had also arrived in Rawalakot to assist the police. According to the Home Secretary, the armed groups are using not only advanced automatic weapons but also improvised explosive devices. During the confrontation, one state security personnel was martyred in the line of duty while another was injured.
Referring to the clashes, the Home Secretary said that, according to reports, one member of the armed group was also killed in the exchange of fire. He added that the use of sophisticated weapons and explosives contradicted the banned committee’s claimed peaceful narrative. Therefore, he said, an operation has become unavoidable to free the public from miscreants and restore peace in the region.
