• No untoward incident reported in Poonch, Sudhnoti• Thousands gather at Rawalakot’s Eidgah Ground ahead of march• JAAC says it wrote to army chief after concerns failed to reach him through official channels• AJK home secretary says coordinated campaigns carried out on social media to incite people
MUZAFFARABAD: The proscribed Joint Awami Action Committee (JAAC) on Wednesday deferred for one week its planned long march on Muzaffarabad after back-channel contacts involving influential intermediaries raised hopes of a negotiated settlement to the ongoing standoff.
Contrary to widespread fears of fresh violence, no untoward incident was reported from the troubled districts of Poonch and Sudhnoti during the day, while life remained normal across the rest of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK).
Official and political sources in Rawalakot told Dawn that several thousand people, including women and children, had gathered at Eidgah Ground in anticipation of the march, while a smaller crowd assembled at the Mutyalmera bus terminal.
The participants, however, remained waiting as key JAAC leaders held hours-long talks with a mediation team comprising Overseas Pakistanis Foundation (OPF) Chairman Syed Qamar Raza, Chaudhry Zafar Anwar and Chaudhry Arif, both from Chakswari in Mirpur district.
