Official silence fuels confusion on ‘arrest’ of JAAC leader Shaukat Nawaz Mir

MUZAFFARABAD: Con­fusion prevailed on Tuesday over the reported arrest of proscribed Joint Awami Action Committee (JAAC) core leader Shaukat Nawaz Mir, as activists claimed he had been taken into custody, while officials refrained from confirming the development. A resident of Muza­ffarabad, Mir is among the four core JAAC leaders for whose capture the government had offered a Rs10 million reward. He also faces sedition charges, and has been evading arrest since the ‘head money’ was announced. Reports of Mir’s supposed arrest first surfaced on social media, where JAAC activists claimed that he had been arrested from the Dhirkot subdivision of Bagh district. According to police sources, enforcement personnel launched a combing operation in the area he was thought to be hiding, and later took him into custody near Airan Nullah on Tuesday afternoon. Sources said two other suspects were also deta­ined alongside him, while the search for two other wanted JAAC leaders — Sohaib Javed and Hafeez Hamdani — continues. However, none of the officials Dawn spoke was willing to go on the record to confirm the development. Other media outlets reported the arrest, attributing the information to Muzaffarabad Deputy Commissioner Munir Ahmed Qureshi. However, Dawn was unable to reach Qureshi, despite repeated attempts. Despite the absence of an official confirmation, police erected barricades along the main road in Mir’s neighbourhood in Muzaffarabad. An uneasy calm prevailed in parts of the city, with many businesses remaining closed as a precaution. Officials, however, maintained that there was no law and order situation in the state capital. Mir, 52, rose to prominence more than five years ago when he was elected president of Muzaffarabad’s traders’ body under the “one shop, one vote” system, representing nearly 10,000 shopkeepers. During the JAAC’s protest movement, he emerged as one of its most prominent leaders and became one of its main spokesmen. Published in Dawn, July 1st, 2