MUZAFFARABAD, Feb 26: A large number of people rallied in three Jhelum valley towns to voice their opposition to the reported official plan to relocate government offices from the existing municipal limits of the AJK capital.

A big vehicular rally carrying leaders of the Save Capital Movement (SCM) was taken out on the Muzaffarabad-Srinagar road on Monday.

The rally left Muzaffarabad at 10am led by the ruling Muslim Conference senior vice-president and MLA Raja Farooq Haider, MC (Haqiqi) MLA Noreen Arif, People’s Party MLAs Hanif Awan and Mian Abdul Waheed, People’s Muslim League MLA Chaudhry Mohammad Rasheed, former ministers Khawaja Farooq Ahmed, Mufti Mansoor, Manzoor Shah and representatives of traders, students and lawyers’ organisations.

Eyewitnesses said shops and businesses in the Jhelum valley remained shut and people enthusiastically welcomed the SCM leaders and participated in the public meetings held in Garhi Dopatta, Hattian Bala and Chinari, some 52 kilometres from here.

Speaking at the public meetings, the SCM and local leaders condemned the move to relocate the capital and asked Prime Minister Sardar Attique Ahmed Khan to avoid steps which could adversely affect the peaceful atmosphere of the region.