(Image Source: X.com/@Madhurendra13)
Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif is looking to get warmer ties with US President Donald Trump, but internal instability may dash his hopes. A large anti-government rally is likely to strike Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) on Monday, September 29, as the Awami Action Committee (AAC), which is calling for long-denied political and economic rights, marches into action. The PoK diaspora in the US, UK, and Europe is also likely to organize protests to internationalize the cause.
The AAC, which is a civil society coalition, maintains that the protests are a reaction to years of government indifference, corruption, and abuse of regional resources for political patronage. Shaukat Nawaz Mir, one of the main leaders of the AAC, emphasized that the campaign is aimed at denied fundamental rights and not at any institution. Mass support from civil society and lawyers has positioned the "shutter-down and wheel-jam" strike as a legitimate democratic gesture. Everyday life, marketplaces, and transportation are anticipated to be severely affected.
The AAC's 38-point charter requires significant reforms. These involve elimination of 12 Assembly seats for Kashmiri refugees, which the AAC believes skew local representation and give undue leverage to Islamabad. They also want hydropower projects renegotiated in favor of local communities, subsidies for essentials such as flour, and electricity bill relief.
Past weekend negotiations between ministers of the government and the AAC collapsed after the AAC insisted on politically delicate reforms such as removing elite privileges and removing the refugee seats—necessitating constitutional or legislative amendments. The ministers observed that despite some progress being registered on some outstanding issues, the negotiating team placed an obstacle, resulting in the strike.
The demonstrations reflect increasing anger in PoK at political exclusion and economic difficulties. Unless resolved, they could gather momentum, placing pressure on Sharif's government and drawing in international eyes, possibly to make his foreign policy more difficult even as he presses for closer ties to the US.
