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As tensions persist in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK), Defence Minister Khawaja Asif on Thursday urged the now proscribed Joint Awami Action Committee (JAAC) to let the people of the region decide whether the 12 refugee seats should be abolished.
The regional administration and the JAAC remain at odds over various issues, most notably the committee’s demand to abolish the 12 seats in the region’s Legislative Assembly that are reserved for refugees from Indian-occupied Jammu and Kashmir who settled in mainland Pakistan after 1947.
Speaking on the floor of the National Assembly, the defence minister called on the JAAC to raise the issue in the upcoming elections, scheduled for July 27, and “take the issue to the public”.
He questioned why the group was intent on deciding the issue pre-emptively, suggesting that it might be an attempt to shape the assembly “as per their will”.
