Abdul Basit Alvi
The Awami Action Committee began as a grassroots initiative in Azad Jammu and Kashmir focused on addressing everyday challenges such as poor roads, chronic power outages, lack of clean water, failing healthcare, and widespread unemployment. It was intended to engage peacefully with the government, demand accountability, and advocate for public welfare while maintaining loyalty to Pakistan, earning early trust for its non-partisan and patriotic stance. Over time, leadership changes and the rise of radical figures shifted the focus from civic concerns to attacking state structures, questioning AJK’s relationship with Pakistan, and moving toward hostility. The committee is now accused of secretly collaborating with India’s intelligence agency RAW to receive funds for anti-state activities aimed at destabilizing AJK, fomenting discord with the military, and weakening Pakistan’s strategic position. Its rhetoric has become increasingly hostile, portraying the military as an occupier and the state as a colonial master, openly calling for defiance, and insulting national figures such as the Field Marshal, credited with Pakistan’s decisive victory over India in the Battle of Maraka Huq.
The Field Marshal’s contributions extend beyond the battlefield to diplomacy, counter-terrorism, and protecting citizens, including those in AJK, where the Pakistan Army daily faces cross-border threats, sacrifices lives, and ensures security. The committee’s anti-state actions, amplified by Indian media, have been seen as serving enemy interests, deliberately spreading division, distrust, and disloyalty, betraying public confidence, and undermining national unity. Citizens of AJK have actively rejected the committee, demanding legal action, asset seizures, arrests of leaders, and stricter regulation of foreign-funded organizations. The exposure of its transformation into a proxy for foreign interests has instead strengthened the population’s resolve to defend Pakistan, support the military, and preserve national unity. The people’s unwavering loyalty and patriotic response highlight that attempts to sow discord have failed, and the collective voice is united against hate, division, and foreign interference, reaffirming AJK’s inseparable bond with Pakistan.
The committee seems to be serving as a proxy for India’s hybrid warfare strategy. For the people of Pakistan and AJK, it is profoundly disappointing and heartbreaking to see that an organization that could have been a force for positive change—that could have helped build schools, pressure the government for better roads, and advocate for the rights of the poor—has instead chosen to engage in pleasing our enemies. They are busy spreading hate and division among the society. They are deliberately and systematically trying to create a rift between the people and the state, between the citizens and the Army, between AJK and the rest of Pakistan. They want to sow discord, to make people suspicious of their own institutions, to create an atmosphere of distrust and anger. This is not the work of patriots; it is the work of proxies. It is the work of those who have sold their loyalty for RAW’s dirty money. Above all, such actions of the Awami Action Committee have been rejected by the people of AJK. The people of AJK are not fools; they are not easily manipulated. They have seen through the committee’s deception and have concluded that the Awami Action Committee has now transformed into an anti-state pressure group, nothing more and nothing less. It no longer has any claim to represent the common people, because the common people have rejected it. The committee has lost public confidence by its actions. The trust that once existed, however tenuous, has been completely shattered.
The people of AJK are showing serious concern on this matter, not as passive observers but as active citizens who demand accountability. They are holding public meetings, writing letters to the editors of newspapers, posting on social media, and speaking out in mosques and bazaars. Their message is clear and unambiguous: they demand immediate and decisive action against all those people and groups that are involved in spreading hate, division, anti-state, and anti-army sentiments, and that are involved in pleasing our enemies and serving as their proxies to destabilize Pakistan and AJK. The people are calling for the registration of criminal cases under the Anti-Terrorism Act and the sedition laws. They are calling for the freezing of the committee’s bank accounts and the seizure of any assets acquired with RAW funding. They are calling for the arrest and prosecution of every leader who has spoken against the state or the Army. They want a full, transparent investigation into the RAW funding allegations, and they want the results to be made public so that the traitors can be named and shamed. The people of AJK are also demanding that the AJK government and the federal government take steps to prevent such anti-state activities in the future, including stricter regulation of NGOs and civil society groups, better monitoring of foreign funding, and a public awareness campaign to inoculate the population against enemy propaganda.
There is also a division within the Awami Action Committee on these matters, as most leaders are condemning such inflammatory actions by a few so-called leaders. The Joint Awami Action Committee, once a hopeful initiative born out of genuine grievances, has become a dark symbol of how foreign intelligence agencies can exploit local issues for their own nefarious ends. But the people of AJK have shown that they are not easily fooled. Their loyalty to Pakistan remains unshaken, their respect for the Pak Army is unwavering, and their love for national heroes like the Field Marshal is undiminished. The committee’s attempts to sow discord have backfired spectacularly, uniting the people even more strongly behind the state. The exposure of its real anti-state face has not weakened AJK; it has strengthened the resolve of the people to defend their territory and their ideology. As the investigation into RAW’s funding and the committee’s activities proceeds, the people of AJK are watching closely, confident that justice will prevail and that those who have betrayed their trust will be held accountable. The era of using AJK as a playground for anti-state activities is over. The collective voice of the people is clear: no to proxies, no to hate, no to division, and yes to a united, strong, and sovereign Pakistan, with AJK as its inseparable and proud partner. The Awami Action Committee’s transformation from a people’s forum to an enemy pressure group is a stain on the history of AJK, but the people’s rejection of that transformation is a testament to their patriotism and their unbreakable bond with Pakistan.
