A high-level delegation of Tehreek Tahaffuz-e-Ayeen Pakistan (TTAP), led by National Assembly Opposition Leader Mahmood Khan Achakzai, was stopped by police from travelling to Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) on Monday after announcing plans to join an ongoing sit-in in Rawalakot, the alliance’s spokesperson said.

Earlier today, TTAP announced that its delegation would travel to Rawalakot to express solidarity with the proscribed Joint Awami Action Committee’s (JAAC) sit-in and support what it described as public demands in line with the principles of democratic freedoms, constitutional supremacy, and public rights.

The delegation included Senate opposition leader Allama Raja Nasir Abbas, former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, Senator Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar, TTAP spokesperson Hussain Ahmad Yousafzai, and Khalid Yousaf Chaudhry, counsel for Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf founder Imran Khan.

According to the spokesperson, the delegation intended to meet the JAAC’s leadership and address participants at the sit-in, reaffirming its commitment to the Constitution, democracy, and the protection of public rights.

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However, in a subsequent statement, TTAP said police stopped the delegation at Kahuta before it could enter AJK.

The party’s spokesperson said members of the delegation asked police under what legal authority they were being prevented from proceeding. According to the spokesperson, police officers replied that they had been instructed by their “senior officers” not to allow the delegation to continue.

TTAP said peaceful political activity and the right to express solidarity could not be restricted through the use of force. It further alleged that preventing the delegation from proceeding without a legal order or written directive amounted to a violation of fundamental rights.

The delegation maintained that it had been travelling peacefully to express solidarity with the people of AJK and said stopping it from proceeding was tantamount to restricting political freedoms, according to the spokesperson.

Background

The recent unrest and deadly clashes broke out in areas, including Rawalakot, where the JAAC had been holding a sit-in outside the Combined Military Hospital Rawalakot. AJK police allege that armed JAAC members opened fire on deployed law enforcement in a planned attack, leaving four personnel dead and around 20 injured. JAAC, however, disputes this account, claiming security forces used tear gas and fired shells toward the hospital.

According to the AJK police, three individuals linked to the JAAC and four law enforcement personnel were killed during the protests. JAAC, however, said in a statement on X that seven individuals were killed and dozens were injured when street firing was carried out in the dark after electricity was allegedly cut off.

The clash came as the AJK government and the JAAC witnessed a face-off, as the election date for AJK was announced for July 27.

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AJK’s 53-member legislative assembly includes 12 seats reserved for Kashmiri refugees — people who fled Indian-controlled Kashmir in 1947 and 1965 and are now scattered across Pakistan. Six seats represent refugees from the Jammu division (~434,000 people) and six from the Kashmir Valley (~30,000 people) — an already lopsided arrangement that many see as unfair.

The region witnessed one of its most turbulent periods in October last year when protests led by the JAAC erupted over demands for constitutional and governance reforms. At least nine people, including three policemen, were killed during the unrest.

The JAAC, which organised the protests and strike, had presented a wide-ranging charter of demands, including an end to the privileges enjoyed by the ruling elite, the abolition of 12 assembly seats reserved for refugees, and the scrapping of the quota system.

Two days after the violence, the government and the JAAC reached an agreement covering 12 core and 13 additional points. Under the accord, both sides agreed to constitute a high-level committee to examine the issue of refugee seats in the AJK Legislative Assembly