(Abdul Basit Alvi)
The Awami Action Committee began in Azad Jammu and Kashmir as a grassroots initiative addressing daily challenges such as poor roads, power outages, lack of clean water, failing healthcare, and unemployment, engaging peacefully with the government while maintaining loyalty to Pakistan. Initially trusted for its non-partisan, patriotic approach, it gradually shifted toward attacking state structures under new, radical leadership, questioning AJK’s relationship with Pakistan and promoting hostility. It is now accused of secretly collaborating with India’s intelligence agency RAW to receive funds 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, the state as a colonial master, openly calling for defiance, and insulting revered 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 military victories to diplomacy, counter-terrorism, and ensuring the safety of citizens in AJK, where the Pakistan Army faces daily cross-border threats and makes tremendous sacrifices. The committee’s anti-state activities, 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 freezes, arrests of leaders, and stricter regulation of foreign-funded organizations. Its transformation into a proxy for foreign interests has strengthened the population’s resolve to defend Pakistan, support the military, and preserve national unity. By deliberately sowing hate and division, the committee has lost all public trust, and the people of AJK have made it clear that it no longer represents them, reaffirming their loyalty to Pakistan and rejection of external manipulation.
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.
