AJK braces for long march as tensions persist

According to initial plans, the JAAC had decided that protesters would start a long march from the southernmost district of Bhimber, passing through Mirpur, Kotli and Poonch before reaching Muzaffarabad on June 10 for a sit-in outside the Legislative Assembly. Government officials, meanwhile, appeared hopeful about the prospects of a tepid response to the protest call for several reasons, including the recent crackdown. In action against JAAC, the authorities had rounded up more than 200 people across the region and forced others into hiding, official sources and witnesses said. “Situation is fluid. The JAAC leadership and crowd-pullers are on the run. So far, they haven’t been able to pull numbers on the streets, but there is a possibility of small protests at several places,” said one official. “But it has been firmly decided that protesters will not be allowed to assemble anywhere, let alone stage a long march from one part of the state to the other,” another official said. Some analysts were of the view that while shutters might remain closed and transport stay off the roads, the call for Tuesday’s strike was less likely to receive an overwhelming response due to the alleged stubbornness of the JAAC leadership. “It was a good movement for rights in the beginning, but some of the committee’s obdurate and myopic leaders pushed it into a blind alley, for reasons best known to them,” remarked a retired government servant, requesting he should