Pakistan PM Shehbaz Sharif to convene high-level meeting as dissent grows in PoJK

Amid violent clashes between police and protesters in the Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir (PoJK), Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif will convene a high-level meeting on Monday to discuss the ongoing situation in the region, ARY News reported.

Earlier, PM Sharif on Sunday also spoke to the prime minister of PoJK and directed the Pakistan Muslim League-N office bearers in the region to engage with the leaders of the action committee to find a peaceful resolution.

Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has said that he is “deeply concerned” about it, and added that there is also no tolerance for taking the law in one’s own hands and damaging government properties.

“Deeply concerned about the situation in AJK. Unfortunately, in situations of chaos and dissent there are always some who rush in to score political points,” Shehbaz Sharif wrote in a post on X.

At least one police officer was killed and 90 others were wounded after violent clashes erupted in Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir (PoJK) during the ongoing protests and shutter down strike across the region, Dawn reported on Saturday.

According to the report which cited Mirpur Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Kamran Ali Sub-inspector Adnan Qureshi succumbed to a gunshot wound in the chest in the town of Islamgarh where he was deployed along with other police personnel to stop a rally for Muzaffarabad via Kotli and Poonch districts under the banner of the Joint Awami Action Committee (JAAC).

The JAAC, which has traders at the forefront in most parts of the region, has been seeking the provision of electricity as per hydropower generation cost in PoJK, subsidised wheat flour and an end to the privileges of the elite class.

On Wednesday-Thursday night, around 70 JAAC activists were arrested by police during raids at their residences and those of their relatives in Muzaffarabad and Mirpur divisions, triggering serious clashes in Dadyal on Thursday.

The committee had subsequently announced a shutter-down and wheel-jam strike on Friday, a day ahead of its planned long march towards Muzaffarabad.