JI Emir Warns of Public Jirga on AJK Crisis

JI Emir Warns of Public Jirga on AJK Crisis

ISLAMABAD, July 6 — Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan Emir Hafiz Naeem ur Rehman has warned that if the government fails to make meaningful progress toward a peaceful resolution of the ongoing situation in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) within the next three days, the JI will form a public jirga to initiate direct dialogue with the Kashmiri people and their representatives.
Addressing a National Consultative Seminar on the situation in AJK in Islamabad, Hafiz Naeem ur Rehman said Jamaat-e-Islami had sacrificed greatly for the Kashmir cause and could not remain silent. He stressed that there would be no compromise on the Kashmir issue and urged the state to act like a caring guardian by embracing dissatisfied groups rather than deepening divisions. Referring to the challenges facing Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, he cautioned that Pakistan could not afford further internal conflicts.
The seminar, organized by Jamaat-e-Islami, was attended by a wide range of political, legal, academic, media and civil society figures, including former AJK president Sardar Masood Khan, former AJK Supreme Court chief justice Justice Manzoor Gillani, Jamaat-e-Islami AJK chief Dr Mushtaq Khan, former AJK JI emirs Dr Khalid Mahmood Khan and Abdul Rashid Turabi,
The seminar, organised by Jamaat-e-Islami, was attended by former AJK president Sardar Masood Khan, former Chief Justice of the AJK Supreme Court Justice Manzoor Gillani, JI AJK Emir Dr Mushtaq Khan, former JI AJK emirs Dr Khalid Mahmood Khan and Abdul Rashid Turabi, Supreme Court Bar Association President Raja Aftab Ahmad, JI Pakistan Vice Emir Mian Aslam, JI Islamabad Emir Engineer Nasrullah Randhawa, JI Islamabad Secretary General Zubair Safdar, senior journalist and anchor Saleem Safi, PFUJ President Afzal Butt, Azad Kashmir Chamber of Commerce and Industry President Mirza Umar Shehzad Jaral, Islamabad Bar Council Vice Chairman Chaudhry Asif Altaf, former Vice Chancellor of the University of Azad Jammu and Kashmir Kaleem Abbasi, former Gomal University vice chancellor Abdul Haleem, former AJK minister Farzana Yaqoob, Dr Sardar Umair Khan, former Additional Inspector General of AJK Police Faheem Abbasi, noted scholar Brigadier Altaf and former bureaucrat Khawaja Saleem Bismil.
Rehman announced plans to further expand the committee already formed by JI to facilitate negotiations and invited participants to join the process. He said that while some concerns raised by protesters regarding the issue of the 12 reserved seats in the AJK Assembly were legitimate, representation of occupied Kashmir and Kashmiri refugees in the legislature could not be eliminated under any circumstances.
He revealed that a JI committee headed by former AJK emir Dr Khalid Mahmood had already held clause-by-clause preliminary talks with the Joint Awami Action Committee on the reserved seats issue and other matters. Expressing optimism about a settlement, he urged the government to demonstrate seriousness and flexibility, setting aside ego and confrontation. He emphasized that JI had no political stake in the dispute and was acting solely to prevent further bloodshed and safeguard the Kashmir cause.

The JI chief argued that public anger emerges when people are excluded from decision-making and when electoral mandates are disregarded. He said political crises stem from the failure to respect public opinion and lamented that neither Pakistan nor AJK had consistently upheld democratic principles over the past 78 years. He also criticized the lack of access to basic services such as education and healthcare.
JI Emir warned that weak political institutions and the absence of internal democracy within parties create a vacuum that is often filled by uncontrolled public agitation. He urged the authorities to act wisely before the situation deteriorates further. He added that if the government objected to Jamaat-e-Islami’s mediation efforts, other political parties should also be included in the dialogue process.
Addressing the Joint Action Committee, he advised its members to distance themselves from any individual making anti-Pakistan statements. While acknowledging the right to criticize governments and institutions, he urged activists to remain focused on their legitimate demands and avoid rhetoric that could undermine national unity. He reiterated that the people of Pakistan stand firmly with Kashmir and that the bond between Pakistan and Kashmir remains inseparable.
The JI leader also highlighted broader socio-economic issues, particularly the challenges faced by young people in AJK and across Pakistan. He pointed to unemployment, unequal educational opportunities and the large number of out-of-school children as factors fueling frustration among the youth. He noted that Jamaat-e-Islami’s Bano Qabil initiative had provided free IT training to hundreds of thousands of young people, expanding from Karachi to Balochistan and Muzaffarabad, and questioned why the state was not fulfilling similar responsibilities.
Calling for institutional reforms, Rehman criticized bureaucratic elitism and the influence of feudal and financial interests, saying corruption remained a major challenge in both Pakistan and AJK. He stressed that resolving these structural issues was essential for lasting stability and public trust.