Fresh Killing Rocks PaJK as Strike Gets Mixed Response

MUZAFFARABAD: A civilian was shot dead by unidentified armed men at Qalaan Bazaar near Baloch on Monday, a day after another youth was killed in Dadyal.

The indefinite shutdown and wheel-jam strike called by the Joint Awami Action Committee (JAAC) drew a sharply contrasting response across Pakistan-administered Jammu and Kashmir.

The latest killing was reported during the afternoon in Sudhnoti district, one of the areas where the Action Committee continues to retain considerable influence and where the strike remained effective in several places.

According to eyewitness accounts, an off-road vehicle travelling from the Hajira side towards Tararkhel was seen moving through the area shortly after 3.00 PM.

Local residents alleged that unidentified armed men travelling in the vehicle first opened fire in Tararkhel Bazaar. Reports subsequently emerged of firing from the same vehicle at other places.

At Qalaan Bazaar, witnesses said, a local man attempted to record the vehicle on his mobile phone.

Someone inside the vehicle allegedly opened fire at him. The bullet struck the man, and he died at the scene.

The identity of the victim was not immediately available.

It was also not immediately clear who was travelling in the vehicle, why the occupants were firing or whether the incident was directly connected with the ongoing agitation.

No detailed official account of the incident was available till the time of filing this report.

Local sources said the vehicle appeared to have travelled along a route where the Action Committee had not established a picket or road blockade.

Kashmir Times could not independently verify the identity of the gunmen or the sequence of firing reported by witnesses.

The death, however, added another layer of tension to an already volatile situation in the region.

It came a day after Chaudhry Usman was killed in Dadyal during violence accompanying renewed protests on Sunday. A police constable was also critically wounded in a separate firing incident in Kotli.

The fresh fatality means civilians have now been reported killed on two consecutive days since the latest phase of the agitation began.

Divided Picture Across Region

Away from the violence in Sudhnoti, Monday presented a markedly different picture across different parts of the territory.

Markets reopened, and traffic moved largely normally in Muzaffarabad and Mirpur, while the shutdown remained effective in Rawalakot and several areas of Sudhnoti.

Commercial activity was also reported in Bagh city, although the situation varied between the main town and surrounding areas.

Independent local reporting from Rawalakot said shops remained closed and public transport was largely off the roads. The shutdown also affected other parts of Poonch division.

Some impact of the strike was reported from Neelum Valley.

In contrast, the JAAC call had little visible impact in Jhelum Valley district.

Markets in Hattian Bala, Chinar, Chikar, Leepa and Chakothi remained open, while public and private transport continued to operate. Educational institutions, government offices and private establishments also functioned largely normally.

The contrasting scenes underlined the uneven nature of the latest phase of the agitation.

In areas where the administration maintained a stronger presence, including Muzaffarabad and Mirpur, commercial activity returned to normal despite the Action Committee's call for an indefinite shutdown.

In Rawalakot, Sudhnoti and some adjoining areas, however, the committee continued to demonstrate its ability to mobilise supporters and enforce closures.

Dadyal, which witnessed violence and the killing of a youth on Sunday, was among the areas where commercial activity remained restricted on Monday.

Khurshidabad in Haveli district also reported limited business activity.

Students Protest

Mirpur presented perhaps the clearest example of the complicated picture emerging across the territory.

Although markets were open and traffic was moving through the city, students at the Mirpur University of Science and Technology (MUST) staged a protest inside the university campus.

A large number of students participated in the demonstration, according to accounts from the city.

The protest indicated that the reopening of shops and restoration of transport did not necessarily mean an end to support for the agitation.

The university itself was functioning on Monday and separately issued an official statement on another matter during the day.

The Action Committee also alleged that the administration sealed the shop of trader Waleed Shaukat at the Lari Adda in Bagh after he refused to open his business in support of the strike.

According to the committee, the trader had kept his shop closed as an act of protest and the administration subsequently sealed the premises.

No immediate explanation from the Bagh administration was available regarding the allegation.

Kashmir Times could not independently establish whether the shop was sealed specifically because the trader had observed the strike.

The allegation came as competing accounts emerged over the extent of the shutdown in Bagh and other districts.

While some local reports described Bagh among the areas witnessing a shutdown, accounts from the main city indicated that a significant number of businesses had resumed activity during the day.

Rawalakot continued to stand out as one of the main centres of the Action Committee movement.

Local reporting on Monday described markets as closed and public transport as largely suspended in the city.

The Poonch-Sudhnoti belt has emerged as the principal centre of resistance during successive rounds of agitation this year.

Former PaJK prime minister Raja Farooq Haider Khan acknowledged the particularly tense situation in Poonch and Sudhnoti in remarks published on Monday.

Haider, who has criticised the Action Committee's confrontational approach, said he had considered bringing prominent people from Poonch and Sudhnoti together to discuss ways of defusing tensions in the two districts.

He has also called on newly elected President Dr Muhammad Najeeb Naqi Khan and Prime Minister Barrister Syed Iftikhar Ali Gillani to engage with representatives of the Action Committee and hear their grievances.

Haider said dialogue remained the only viable way of resolving the confrontation.

Government Says Strike Rejected

The government, meanwhile, portrayed the reopening of markets in several areas as evidence that the Action Committee had failed to secure territory-wide support for its call.

Pakistan's Minister of State for Interior Talal Chaudhry said on Monday that Kashmiris had rejected the strike.

He also levelled serious allegations against the Action Committee, claiming some of its members had fired at security forces and alleging that weapons had been brought into the region from outside Pakistan.

The minister said the government had evidence and would present it before a court.

The Action Committee has previously rejected government allegations portraying its movement as violent or externally backed and maintains that it is campaigning for political, economic and civil rights.

The government outlawed the JAAC earlier this year following months of confrontations, arrests and deadly clashes.

In another development that the government cited as evidence of weakening support for the movement, eight people described in media reports as active JAAC members announced at a press conference in Hattian Bala that they were distancing themselves from the organisation.

Those named were Raja Abdul Qadir, Waqar Anjum Yousafzai, Waheed Kiyani, Raja Jaleel, Yasir Siddique Kiyani, Shahid Hamid Abbasi, Jamshed Kiyani and Raja Naseem Kiyani.

They appealed to traders and residents not to participate in the latest protest campaign.

Their announcement came as normal commercial and transport activity was reported across much of Jhelum Valley on Monday.

There was no immediate response from the Action Committee leadership to their announcement.

The indefinite strike follows weeks of warnings from the Action Committee that it would launch a new phase of agitation if the government failed to implement agreements reached with it.

At a meeting in Rawalakot on September 28, the committee temporarily relaxed its earlier shutdown and asked traders to keep businesses open until October 3 so residents could stock food and other essential supplies.

It asked families to prepare for a prolonged protest campaign and said it would announce its next course of action on October 4; the first anniversary of agreements reached with the governments of Pakistan and Pakistan-administered Jammu and Kashmir.

The committee subsequently announced an indefinite shutter-down and wheel-jam strike.

The JAAC accuses the authorities of failing to fully implement agreements covering political, economic and governance issues.

The government maintains that most of the committee's demands have already been addressed and accuses its leadership of continuing confrontation despite concessions.

The movement initially grew around demands for cheaper electricity, subsidised wheat and governance reforms, but its agenda later expanded to political representation and other constitutional issues.

The dispute over 12 Legislative Assembly seats reserved for refugees from Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir settled in Pakistan became one of the most contentious issues during this year's agitation.

Months of protests have brought repeated shutdowns, road blockades, arrests, internet restrictions and deadly confrontations between protesters and security forces.

Neither Side in Control

Monday's events, however, presented neither the territory-wide shutdown projected by supporters of the Action Committee nor the complete return to normality portrayed by government officials.

Instead, the territory appeared divided into areas where the administration had succeeded in restoring normal commercial life and protest strongholds where the Action Committee continued to command substantial support.

Muzaffarabad, Mirpur and much of Jhelum Valley saw shops open and vehicles on the roads.

Rawalakot and parts of Sudhnoti remained under the influence of the strike, while Dadyal and Khurshidabad reported restricted commercial activity.

Mirpur saw normal business activity alongside a student protest.

And in Qalaan Bazaar, the unexplained shooting of a civilian introduced a new security concern into a confrontation already marked by deaths, arrests and deep mistrust between the government and the protest movement.

With civilians reported killed on two successive days, attention is now likely to focus not only on whether the Action Committee can sustain its indefinite shutdown but also on whether the authorities and protest leadership can prevent the confrontation from sliding into another prolonged cycle of violence.