The federal government has pledged full support to the Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) administration to ensure peaceful elections, following violent clashes in Rawalakot involving supporters of the banned Jammu Kashmir Joint Awami Action Committee (JAAC).
Federal ministers said the government would not allow any group to undermine the democratic process through violence or intimidation and insisted that the people of AJK had rejected attempts to disrupt the polls by participating in large numbers.
State Minister for Interior Talal Chaudhry made the remarks during a joint press conference in Islamabad with Federal Information Minister Attaullah Tarar on Tuesday, as authorities continued their response to unrest linked to the banned organisation.
The AJK government declared JAAC a proscribed organisation on June 5 under the Anti-Terrorism Act, accusing it of involvement in terrorism. The ban came days before the committee’s planned June 9 protest against the 12 AJK Assembly seats reserved for refugees from Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) who migrated to Pakistan after 1947.