Massive rallies and demonstrations were staged in almost all major cities and towns of Azad Jammu and Kashmir’s Poonch and Mirpur divisions on Tuesday amid crippling shutter-down and wheel-jam strikes against inflated power bills and other issues of public concern.

The strike call was given by the public action committees of these areas, spearheaded by business community leaders, lawyers, transporters and representatives of other civil society organisations, as part of their consistent campaign to persuade the authorities concerned to reverse price hikes, including the “cruel taxes” in electricity bills.

The AJK Bar Council had also announced its support to the strike call and subsequently boycotted judicial work.

The participants remained fully focused on the basic purpose of their protests. The content on their banners and placards also revolved around their demands. The only flag seen in the rallies and demonstrations was that of AJK’s.

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In Rawalakot, where a sit-in on these issues entered its 120th day on Tuesday, thousands of people from all walks of life paraded through the main artery, before their rally converted into a public meeting at a roundabout popularly known as Tourism Chowk.

Witnesses said that no obstacles, including the worn-out tyres that are often set on fire, were placed on the roads within and outside the town, which happens to be the divisional as well as district headquarters of Poonch.

Sardar Umar Nazir, president of a group of Rawalakot-based traders, declared on the occasion that if the government failed to abolish unjust taxes on electricity, consumers would not deposit their bills even in the month of September.

He announced that the future course of action would be decided soon at a joint meeting of the action committees of the Mirpur, Muzaffarabad and Poonch divisions.

Participants also vented anger at the government for its failure to realise the gravity of the problems.

“In a country where some people do not have a morsel of bread and some live a luxurious life at state expense, a bloody revolution is bound to occur … The sooner our privileged classes realise it, the better it would be for them and the country at large,” said an elderly member of the Rawalakot rally.

Elsewhere in the division, shutter-down and wheel-jam strikes coupled with big demonstrations were also held in the Bagh, Sudhnoti and Haveli districts.

Mirpur division

In Mirpur, where the district bar association (DBA) had made an appeal for a strike against the increase in power tariff and power outages, the non-resolution of the Mangla dam and related issues, including non-construction of the Rathoa-Haryam Bridge, there was a complete shutter-down strike in the lakeside city and its adjoining towns of Dadyal, Chakswari, Islamgarh, Jatlan, Khari Sharif and Mangla.

A large protest sit-in was held in the city’s Chowk Shaheedan where representatives of various civil society organisations delivered fiery speeches.

Unveiling the future course of action on the occasion, DBA president Kamran Tariq declared that consumers in Mirpur would not deposit their electricity bills in the future as well.

“If the government wants to hold purposeful negotiations we are ready for it,” he said, but warned that the situation could not remain peaceful if the administration or electricity department personnel tried to suspend power supply to any household or commercial entity.

Tariq pointed out that while the AJK government was getting electricity at cheap rates, it was “fleecing the consumers only to meet its luxuries”.

“People of Mirpur offered their fertile lands and allowed submersion of the graves of their near and dear ones for the prosperity of the country. But if anyone thinks that this area is just a green pasture for them, he is mistaken. We will not allow anyone to make a mockery of our sacrifices,” he said.

He vowed that around one hundred thousand people would be brought onto the streets in the next phase of protest, which he could not guarantee would remain peaceful.

Like leaders in Poonch, Tariq also announced that the next phase of the protest movement would be decided and shared after holding consultations within the next few days with representatives of businessmen, lawyers and civil society from across the state.

He also declared that big protests would also be held by the Kashmiri expatriate community in the United Kingdom and the United States during the next phase.

Interestingly, a shutter-down strike and a rally were also held in Bhimber, the hometown of AJK Prime Minister Chaudhry Anwarul Haq even though a faction of traders politically affiliated with him had opposed the move.

Electricity department’s statement

Meanwhile, a press release from the AJK electricity department explained that all increases in the consumer tariff introduced in the month of July were withdrawn “for the time being”.

The notification whereby the increase was implemented was already suspended and the bills of all consumers were corrected in accordance with the previous tariff, not only on the department’s website but also on the apps of the banks concerned, it said.

The department said that consumers who had already deposited their electricity bills without getting them corrected would get the adjustment of the excess payment in their next bills to be issued in the ongoing month.