The Joint Awami Action Committee — the JAAC — is one of the most significant civil society movements to emerge from Azad Kashmir in recent memory. It is not a political party. It is a broad-based civil alliance that emerged from years of frustration among ordinary people in AJK — traders, lawyers, teachers, religious scholars, and working families who felt their basic needs were being ignored by the Pakistani state.
Core Demands
The JAAC’s demands are consistent: restoration of wheat and food subsidies; affordable electricity rates; constitutional recognition of AJK’s people within Pakistan’s legal framework; and genuine representation in Pakistan’s parliament. These are not radical political demands — they are basic rights.
The Response
The Pakistani government’s response has been a combination of negotiation and force. Security forces were deployed against protesters. At least two people were killed in the May 2024 protests in Muzaffarabad. Activists were arrested. Yet the movement persisted.
Why It Matters
The JAAC movement reveals a fundamental truth about Pakistan-administered Kashmir: the people here have been told their land is held in trust for a future settlement, but in the meantime, they are denied the rights and representation that Pakistani citizens take for granted.
“We are not asking for independence. We are asking to be treated like human beings.” — JAAC spokesperson, 2024