ISLAMABAD: The Jammu Kashmir Joint Awami Action Committee (JKAAC) has put forward a sweeping set of electoral and constitutional reform demands ahead of Pakistan-administered Jammu and Kashmir's (PaJK) 2026 general elections, issuing an urgent memorandum to the governments of Pakistan and PaJK and warning of a Long March on June 9 if grievances remain unaddressed by May 31.
The Committee called for the abolition of 12 seats allocated to Kashmiri refugees residing in Pakistan, an end to pre-election privileges enjoyed by the ruling elite, and full devolution of authority and resources to local government representatives.
It also demanded that all candidates and elected assembly members take an oath of allegiance to the territorial integrity of Jammu & Kashmir. On electoral transparency, the JKAAC called for voter lists to be recompiled by Union Council and polling station, published online, and opened to previously excluded eligible citizens through digital registration.
Constituency delimitation should ensure no more than a 5,000-voter variation between seats, the Committee said, to guarantee equal weight of each vote.
It further demanded full public disclosure of five years' worth of development fund expenditures and assets of all candidates, and called for postal or digital voting rights for economically displaced overseas Kashmiris.
The JKAAC framed these reforms as essential to restoring public confidence in the democratic process, arguing that structural flaws in PaJK's electoral system have long prevented elected governments from delivering fair and lasting solutions.
The reform agenda comes alongside longstanding demands for full implementation of the Committee's Charter of Demands and the Muzaffarabad Agreement of 4 October 2025. The memorandum recalled that a strike launched on September 29, 2025 turned deadly when state force was used against protesters, claiming 15 lives.
The Government of Pakistan intervened as guarantor, brokering a two-part agreement requiring implementation within three months, commitments the JKAAC says have largely gone unmet, replaced by announcements, delays, and institutional avoidance.
The Committee, which has led a peaceful public movement for three years, urged both governments to treat the situation as a crisis of democratic trust rather than a law-and-order matter, and called for concrete progress on all fronts before the May 31 deadline, failing which, the June 9 Long March will proceed.
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