Govt must form truth and reconciliation commission to resolve unrest in AJK, demands Bilawal

PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari on Tuesday demanded that the government form a truth and reconciliation commission to resolve ongoing tensions with the proscribed Joint Awami Action Committee (JAAC) in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK).

Addressing an event in Muzaffarabad, the PPP chairman said, “It is necessary that during these historic elections, we restore peace and maintain fairness and transparency. To honour the future of Kashmir and Pakistan’s stance on Kashmir, this is not about anyone’s victory or defeat. The state and the protestors will have to accept this recommendation from the PPP.”

Bilawal said he had been campaigning for the formation of the commission for the past month.

“All the state had to do was form a truth and reconciliation commission and task it with discerning the truth, and the protestors would have been asked to halt their protests until the commission presented its findings,” he said. However, he recalled that neither party had been willing to “back down”.

“What will then become of my innocent Kashmiris, who have no connection to either the protestors or the government?” he added.

More to follow.