Muzaffarabad — Jamaat-e-Islami’s regional leadership for Azad Jammu & Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan has formally announced its separation from the Awami Action Committee (AAC), the party’s regional head Dr. Mushtaq Khan said at a press briefing on Saturday.
Dr. Mushtaq said that Jamaat’s membership had initially joined the AAC’s movement — and he himself had addressed one of the rallies in Muzaffarabad — but developments within the campaign later prompted a rethink. He explained that, after two of Jamaat’s key demands were accepted, the party believed its principal agenda had been met. However, he added, some participants subsequently adopted slogans and actions that were critical of Pakistan and even involved lowering the national flag — moves Jamaat could not condone.
“On noticing these shifts, we instructed our members to pursue their campaign under a platform aligned with Jamaat-e-Islami,” Dr. Mushtaq said, stressing that the split did not amount to hostility toward the AAC. He framed Jamaat’s decision as a return to a “positive, organised approach” and said the party would continue to support legitimate demands that align with the Kashmiri freedom movement and Pakistan’s national interest — but would not back elements that, in its view, stray from those principles.
The announcement reflects the fracturing of alliances within the broader protest movement in the region, where multiple groups with differing agendas have mobilised around similar grievances.
