Bilawal terms AJK situation concerning, says Kashmir cause, Pakistan's reputation will be harmed if it persists

PPP Chairperson Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari said on Wednesday that the situation in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) since last month was “very concerning”, and the longer it persisted, the more harm would be caused to the Kashmir cause and Pakistan’s reputation.

Bilawal expressed these views while addressing his party’s office bearers and ticket holders in AJK, where he arrived on Tuesday for an unscheduled visit ahead of July 27 elections in the region.

AJK has been seized by protests and deadly clashes between law enforcers and protesters from the recently proscribed Joint Awami Action Committee (JAAC) ahead of the polls.

The matter at the centre of the tensions is JAAC’s demand for the abolition of 12 seats in the region’s Legislative Assembly that are reserved for refugees from Indian-occupied Jammu and Kashmir who settled in mainland Pakistan after 1947.

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