A second round of talks between federal government delegation and Joint Awami Action Committee (JAAC) of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) were held in Muzaffarabad on Friday, in a continued bid to end the ongoing protest in the territory, reported 24NewsHDTV Channel.
Earlier on Thursday a high-level government delegation held negotiations with a civil society alliance in AJK after days of clashes between protesters and law enforcers which left several people dead and scores critically injured.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Tariq Fazal Chaudhry said in a post on social media site X that the government’s committee was holding a second round of talks with the JAAC representatives in Muzaffarabad.
“We support the rights of the people of Kashmir,” he said, maintaining that most of their demands, which were in public interest, had already been accepted. He said constitutional amendments were required to fulfil the remaining few demands and talks are ongoing regarding that.
“We believe that the Action Committee will resolve all issues through peaceful dialogue,” the minister said.
In an earlier post today, he shared that PPP leader Raja Pervez Ashraf, Senator Rana Sanaullah, Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal, Religious Affairs Minister Sardar Yousaf, Adviser to Prime Minister on Kashmir Affairs Qamar Zaman Kaira, Masood Ahmed and Kashmir Affairs Minister Amir Muqam Chaudhry himself.
Sources said Federal ministers face shortage of clothes and medicine in Muzaffarabad as Federal ministers had left for Muzaffarabad with one day’s preparation. However, Federal Minister for Kashmir Affairs Amir Muqam’s staff is reportedly bringing clothes and medicine for the federal ministers in Muzaffarabad.
A three-day shutter-down strike paralysed AJK under a communications blackout, as JAAC pressed its demands after talks with the AJK government and federal ministers broke down last week over elite privileges and reserved seats for refugees. Subsequently, rival groups staged protests, trading blame for violence that marred what began as a largely peaceful movement.
Yesterday, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had expressed deep concern over the unrest in AJK, directing the negotiation body to immediately proceed to the AJK capital and find an immediate and lasting solution to the issues.
