MUZAFFARABAD: The federal government has notified a nine-member committee to deliberate on a contentious clause of an agreement signed nearly three months ago between the Centre, the Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) government and the Jammu Kashmir Joint Awami Action Committee (JKJAAC), officials confirmed on Tuesday.
A notification issued by the Ministry of Kashmir Affairs and Gilgit-Baltistan, dated December 29, has surfaced on social media, detailing the composition and mandate of the committee. According to the notification, the panel includes Mian Abdul Waheed, the senior-most AJK minister, along with advocates Sardar Tahir Anwar and Raja Ejaz Ahmad Khan as nominees of the AJK government. The JKJAAC is represented by advocates Raja Amjad Ali Khan, Sardar Arbab and Saad Ansari.
The federal government has nominated three officials from the Ministry of Law and Justice: Muhammad Khashihur Rehman, draftsman and additional secretary; Hassan Mahmood, legislative adviser; and Taimoor Zareen Khan, consultant research.
Under its terms of reference, the committee has been tasked with deliberating on the issue of “members of the AJK Legislative Assembly other than the AJK constituencies,” a phrase widely understood as referring to the 12 seats reserved for legislators elected from constituencies representing Pakistan-based refugees from India-held Jammu and Kashmir. The matter has long been a subject of political debate in AJK.
The committee has been authorised to hold meetings as frequently as required and is expected to submit its recommendations to the Monitoring and Implementation (M&I) Committee constituted under the Muzaffarabad Agreement. That agreement was signed in the early hours of October 4 after prolonged negotiations between an eight-member federal team and the JKJAAC leadership, following a week-long shutdown across AJK. The protests resulted in at least 10 deaths, including those of activists and police personnel, and left dozens injured.
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At the time of the agreement, an M&I Committee was also formed, comprising federal ministers Amir Muqam and Dr Tariq Fazal Chaudhry, along with two representatives each from the AJK government and the JKJAAC, to oversee implementation of the accord. The agreement addressed several political, economic and administrative demands and also mandated a review of perks and privileges of the judiciary, ministers and government officials in light of financial constraints. The formation of a separate legal committee to examine the issue of the 12 refugee seats was included as a specific provision.
Recommendations to be submitted to the monitoring committee. https://t.co/QHIMybCiyU
— Dawn.com (@dawn_com) December 31, 2025
The first meeting of the M&I Committee was held in Islamabad on October 21. A subsequent meeting planned for November 15 in Muzaffarabad was eventually held on November 21, following criticism from the JKJAAC over delays in implementation.
Reacting to the latest development, the JKJAAC expressed concern over what it described as an inordinate delay in constituting the review committee. Raja Amjad Ali Khan, a JKJAAC nominee, said the panel should have been notified within 15 days of the agreement, adding that the nearly 90-day delay had come amid renewed warnings of public protest.
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