{"id":63455,"date":"2026-06-03T16:39:43","date_gmt":"2026-06-03T16:39:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dailyspokesman.net\/live\/?p=63455"},"modified":"2026-06-03T16:39:43","modified_gmt":"2026-06-03T16:39:43","slug":"protest-or-pressure-tactic-debating-jaacs-june-9-strike-in-ajk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dailyspokesman.net\/live\/2026\/06\/03\/protest-or-pressure-tactic-debating-jaacs-june-9-strike-in-ajk\/","title":{"rendered":"Protest or Pressure Tactic? Debating JAAC\u2019s June 9 Strike in AJK"},"content":{"rendered":"<h3><strong>Abdul Basit Alvi<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) is a self-governing territory created after the partition of the subcontinent and the 1949 ceasefire line rather than a province like Punjab or Sindh. Although it has its own president, prime minister, legislative assembly and supreme court, it remains heavily dependent on Pakistan for defense, foreign policy, currency and financial support. Because of its sensitive border with Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir, one of the world\u2019s most militarized and volatile regions, Pakistan treats AJK as both a strategic asset and a moral responsibility, continuing to provide billions of rupees in grants, subsidies, infrastructure projects and development packages even during periods of economic crisis, inflation, debt and international financial pressure. Despite this support, the Joint Awami Action Committee\u2019s June 9 strike call has sharply divided public opinion. Supporters consider it a democratic and peaceful attempt to highlight delayed development projects, lack of transparency, inflation and poor healthcare, while a much larger group including traders, shopkeepers, transporters, teachers, doctors, students and daily wage workers believes strikes only deepen hardship for ordinary people by shutting down markets, schools, universities, transport and government offices. Critics point out that laborers lose wages, businesses suffer financial losses, students face academic disruption and stress, and patients experience delayed treatment and worsening health. Many also question the timing because Pakistan itself is struggling with inflation, rising fuel and electricity costs and IMF-related tax measures while still providing subsidized flour, fuel, electricity and development funds to AJK through programs such as the Annual Development Program and the Kashmir Economic Package. Since AJK reportedly receives higher federal transfers per capita than most provinces, many citizens and analysts in Muzaffarabad, Mirpur, Kotli, Bagh and Rawalakot view the strike as disruptive, damaging to AJK\u2019s image and potentially harmful to future federal support.<\/p>\n<p>Critics further argue that the Joint Awami Action Committee\u2019s repeated strikes, protests, sit-ins and road blockades over political and economic issues have failed to solve underlying problems and instead forced ordinary citizens to bear economic losses while the committee leadership claims success and returns to comfortable lives with their own income, security and resources. Growing public frustration has led many people in AJK to reject strike culture and demand dialogue, peaceful engagement and long-term stability instead of repeated shutdowns and street politics. A distinction is increasingly made between genuine protest, such as peaceful demonstrations and legal challenges that avoid harming the public, and pressure tactics that deliberately create suffering through road blockades, transport shutdowns and market closures to force government action. Many fear this cycle encourages further instability because governments may accept demands simply to restore normal life rather than because the demands are justified. Serious concerns are also being raised about the impact on the youth of AJK, especially college and university students who are mobilized through rallies, pamphlets, social media campaigns and emotional speeches. Critics believe the committee promotes hostility toward the state, government, police, law enforcement agencies and even Pakistan itself by portraying every issue as oppression or conspiracy, filling young people with anger, frustration and victimhood that can easily be manipulated for political purposes. Young protesters are often placed on the front lines where they risk injury, arrest or death, and such incidents are then used to fuel more anger and recruit additional supporters. Many fear this culture of confrontation threatens AJK\u2019s traditionally peaceful, moderate and educated society, which has produced respected professionals and strong academic institutions. They warn that if young people continue to focus on destructive protests instead of education, skills and careers, they may become instruments of instability rather than productive contributors to society. Critics also argue that ongoing unrest benefits Pakistan\u2019s adversaries, particularly India, which they believe uses strikes and protests in AJK as propaganda to portray the region as unstable and dissatisfied with Pakistani administration.<\/p>\n<p>Given all these concerns, it is not surprising that there is a growing demand from the people of AJK themselves to call back the strike of June 9. This demand is not coming from the government or from any political party but from ordinary citizens, civil society organizations, trade unions, traders associations and even many religious leaders. They have organized small gatherings, written letters to newspapers, posted messages on social media and used local radio stations to express their opposition to the strike. They say that they have had enough of strikes and shutdowns and that they want peace, normalcy and the freedom to go about their daily lives without fear of disruption. They argue that if the Joint Awami Action Committee has any genuine grievances, they should present those grievances in writing to the government and engage in serious negotiations. If the government does not respond, they should take legal action or use parliamentary forums to raise their issues. But they should not force the entire population to suffer for their political agenda. This message is resonating with more and more people every day, and it is likely that if the committee goes ahead with the strike on June 9, they will face widespread resistance and non-cooperation from the public. The people of AJK have shown great patience and resilience over the years, but that patience has limits, and those limits have now been reached.<\/p>\n<p>The people of AJK are demanding that the government take tangible and visible steps to stop the growing culture of hate, division and violent protests that groups like the Joint Awami Action Committee are promoting. They want the government to enforce the law strictly against anyone who incites violence, blocks roads, damages public property or disrupts normal life. They want the government to work with educational institutions to teach students about peaceful and legal methods of protest, and to protect young people from being exploited by political groups. They also want the government to improve governance, transparency and service delivery so that genuine grievances are addressed before they can be exploited by pressure groups. If the government delivers good governance and listens to the people, then groups like the Joint Awami Action Committee will have no excuse to call strikes. But even if governance is not perfect, the people of AJK have made it clear that they prefer dialogue over strikes and peace over chaos. They understand what is good for them and what is bad for them, and they have decided that the strike culture is bad. Therefore, they are speaking with one voice to say that the June 9 strike should be cancelled, that the Joint Awami Action Committee should change its approach, and that the government should act firmly to protect the peaceful and prosperous future of Azad Jammu and Kashmir for generations to come.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Abdul Basit Alvi Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) is a self-governing territory created after the partition of the subcontinent and the 1949 ceasefire line rather than a province like Punjab or Sindh. Although it has its own president, prime minister, legislative assembly and supreme court, it remains heavily dependent on Pakistan for defense, foreign policy, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":44799,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[195,1005],"class_list":["post-63455","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-editorial-articles","tag-abdul-basit-alvi","tag-protest-or-pressure-tactic-debating-jaacs-june-9-strike-in-ajk"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyspokesman.net\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63455","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyspokesman.net\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyspokesman.net\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyspokesman.net\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyspokesman.net\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=63455"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/dailyspokesman.net\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63455\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":63457,"href":"https:\/\/dailyspokesman.net\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63455\/revisions\/63457"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyspokesman.net\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/44799"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyspokesman.net\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=63455"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyspokesman.net\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=63455"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyspokesman.net\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=63455"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}