• Businesses remained closed in state capital
• Mixed response to strike call in Mirpur
• Demonstrators want electricity as per hydropower generation cost, subsidised flour

MUZAFFARABAD: A crippling shutterdown and wheeljam strike was observed in almost all parts of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) on Friday on the call of a people’s action committee, during which state capital Muzaffarabad witnessed violent confrontation between police and some demonstrators in different neighbourhoods till late Friday evening.

The strike call was given by the Jammu Kashmir Joint Awami Action Committee for Friday, after several of its important leaders and activists were arrested by police in overnight raids in Muzaffarabad and Mirpur divisions. According to the committee’s earlier announcement, people from across the state were supposed to stage a long march towards Muzaffarabad on Saturday (May 11).

The action committee has been seeking provision of electricity as per hydropower generation cost in AJK, subsidised wheat flour and an end to “luxuries” of the elite class. In December last year, it had reached an understanding with an official reconciliation committee, following which a notification was also issued by the government on February 4. However, in April the committee had announced that it would stage a long march on May 11 in protest against the “non-fulfillment of the written commitments” by the government.

In three districts of Muzaffarabad division, all businesses, including banks, remained closed, and traffic and vendors off the roads on Friday.

In many parts of the state capital, clashes broke out between police and demonstrators, triggered by stone pelting by the latter. In retaliation, police resorted to teargas shelling which badly affected people even in their homes and mosques.

The Neelum Bridge and Bank Road wore scenes of a battleground till late evening, where video footage showed stones being thrown at the police from the western side. In return, police responded with teargas shelling and firing in the air,in addition to stone pelting.

Earlier in the day, demonstrations were held in different parts of the city, where people vowed to carry on the struggle for their rights.

Shaukat Nawaz Mir, the top leader of the movement in Muzaffarabad, who had escaped arrest on Thursday, also addressed many gatherings in the town.

The Poonch division, from where the rights movement had originated almost a year ago, also witnessed complete wheeljam and shutter down strikes in all of its four districts without anyviolent clashes.

Sources said the administration had adopted a different strategy for the Poonch division, known for its martial mood, whereby it had avoided arrests of activists and visible heavy deployment of police contingents for certain reasons.

In divisional headquarters Rawalakot, hundreds of people gathered in the heart of the city after Friday prayers, where they renewed their pledge to continue the movement till achievement of its goals.

Speaking to the gathering, action committee leader Umar Nazir Kashmiri declared that the long march would be held as per initial programme amid wheeljam and shutterdown strike.

“The long march will begin from Mirpur on Saturday via Rawalakot from where we will jointly travel towards Muzaffarabad after 12 noon on Sunday,” he said.

The Mirpur division, comprising Mirpur, Kotli and Bhimber districts, showed a mixed response to the strike call.

In Mirpur city, except for a rally taken out by a group of traders, life remained normal by and large. Earlier, the rights movement in Mirpur was led by the District Bar Association (DBA). However, the existing DBA body had kept itself aloof from any kind of protest.

Kamran Tariq, the former DBA president, told Dawn that they would observe a strike in Mirpur on Saturday.

However, elsewhere in Mirpur district, particularly in Dadyal which was rocked by fierce clashes between police and demonstrators throughout the day on Thursday, residents observed strike.

Similarly, it was also successful in AJK’s largest Kotli district.

A big rally was brought out in Kotli on Friday under the aegis of the local chapter of the action committee, where people vowed to take part in Saturday’s long march.

However, in Bhimber, the hometown of the AJK premier, life was said to be normal.

Meanwhile, in a statement, an official spokesman claimed that life had remained “normal and satisfactory” in all three divisions of state.

Published in Dawn, May 11th, 2024