AJK premier urges JKLF protesters to call off march to LoC as ‘purpose largely met’ – Pakistan

Prime Minister Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK), Raja Farooq Haider, on Tuesday urged protesters led by the Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) to suspend their march since the purpose of their program had been "fulfilled in big measure".

The march led by the JKLF stopped about eight kilometers before the Control Line (LoC) in the Chakothi sector on Sunday due to the blockade of the Muzaffarabad-Srinagar road by the administration.

Since then, protesters had been organizing a sit under large tents, erected on the main road before the blockade on Sunday night.

On Monday, JKLF leaders had renewed their call to the AJK government to remove obstacles and allow protesters to cross the ceasefire line (LoC) or else they would continue to sit in this place for "an indefinite period."

As an alternative, the JKLF had demanded that the AJK government bring any special representative of the UN Secretary General, as well as the representatives of the members of the P5 Security Council to whom they could present their letter of demands.

In his cautious response, Prime Minister Haider said: "Those who have gone there (to the LoC) are our brothers. They have made the world know what they wanted me to know. I hope they return after they have demonstrated their determination and commitment to the whole world ".

“Such things (march towards LoC) would continue to happen repeatedly. Eventually, this unfortunate line has to disappear, either peacefully or otherwise. People should make preparations from now on, ”he said.

"God wants this to happen, sooner or later," he added.

Haider emphasized that there should not be any conceptual chaos in the ranks of the cashmere.

"We should all raise a slogan and make a claim, that is, a plebiscite," he said.

He stressed that all things that lead to division in society must be avoided to achieve the ultimate goal of India's freedom.

Meanwhile, leaders of different political parties, representatives of the legal fraternity, students and merchants visited the JKLF camp on Tuesday to express solidarity with them.

Among them were the regional president of the Popular Party of Pakistan, Chaudhry Latif Akbar, the former emir and chairman of the Public Accounts Committee of Jamaat-e-Islami AJK, Abdul Rashid Turabi, and the former president of the Islamabad Bar Association, Zahid Mehmood Raja.

Many people invented bedspreads and blankets for protesters without posting their act on social media, a witness said Dawn.

Although there was officially no information in this regard, well-placed official sources argued that "compliance with these demands was well beyond the authority of the AJK government."

"This is something that JKLF knows very well," they said, while requesting anonymity.

However, JKLF's main spokesman, Rafiq Dar, did not agree with this statement.

Speaking to Dawn from the concentration camp, he said that the AJK government could write to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to discuss this matter with the UN Secretary General with a request to send his special representative to Chinari in view of the "seriousness of the situation. ".

"They claim that they lead the base camp government [launch pad] of struggle for freedom. If they can't even do this little step, then they should let us move forward, ”he said.

"Let me tell you that all of us are determined, rather than anxious, to cross the gap."