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MUZAFFARABAD: Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) Prime Minister Faisal Mumtaz Rathore has said his government is making every effort to prevent the Joint Awami Action Committee (JAAC) from taking to the streets again, stressing that the dispute over the 12 legislative assembly seats reserved for refugees from Indian-occupied Kashmir should be resolved through negotiations and political consensus.
Answering questions during an interview with a private TV channel, he asserted that his government had made sincere efforts to implement the agreement reached with the action committee following last year’s protest movement and had resolved almost all issues contained in its charter of demands.
“Almost all demands included in the charter of demands were fulfilled, except for one relating to the abolition of refugee seats, which subsequently became the central issue around which the movement was revived,” he said.
Referring to recent negotiations with JAAC, Rathore said: “We have had very productive discussions with members of the Action Committee. However, the issue of abolishing refugee seats is a constitutional matter that cannot be decided by a single political party alone. It requires a broad consensus among all stakeholders.”
