{"id":129421,"date":"2026-07-15T17:28:40","date_gmt":"2026-07-15T12:28:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/?p=129421"},"modified":"2026-07-15T17:28:40","modified_gmt":"2026-07-15T12:28:40","slug":"bilawal-terms-ajk-situation-concerning-says-kashmir-cause-pakistans-reputation-will-be-harmed-if-it-persists","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/129421\/","title":{"rendered":"Bilawal terms AJK situation concerning, says Kashmir cause, Pakistan&#8217;s reputation will be harmed if it persists"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Web desk(National Times)- PPP Chairperson Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari said on Wednesday that the situation in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) since last month was \u201cvery concerning\u201d, and the longer it persisted, the more harm would be caused to the Kashmir cause and Pakistan\u2019s reputation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Bilawal expressed these views while addressing his party\u2019s office bearers and ticket holders in AJK, where he arrived on Tuesday for an unscheduled visit ahead of July 27 elections in the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The matter at the centre of the tensions is JAAC\u2019s demand for the abolition of&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/news\/2002661\"><u>12 seats in the region\u2019s Legislative Assembly<\/u><\/a>&nbsp;that are reserved for refugees from Indian-occupied Jammu and Kashmir who settled in mainland Pakistan after 1947.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Addressing his party\u2019s workers against this backdrop, Bilawal said, \u201cIf someone uses inappropriate language against Kashmiris, we will be heartbroken.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He added, \u201cAnd if someone speaks up against our army, we can\u2019t tolerate that as well.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He emphasised that Pakistan\u2019s armed forces, which had defeated India during&nbsp;<em>Marka-i-Haq<\/em>&nbsp;last year, were their \u201cred line\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Turning his attention to the present situation in AJK, he said it was surely \u201cvery concerning\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe longer it persists, the more harm will be caused to the Kashmir cause and Pakistan\u2019s reputation and position,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">At this point, he also highlighted the global situation, saying \u201cbig changes are taking place and conspiracies are under way globally\u201d. And in this situation, the role of Pakistan and Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir was \u201csignificant\u201d, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He continued, \u201cPakistan\u2019s role, our field marshal\u2019s role is before you in this situation; Pakistan is playing its role as Israel conspires against Iran; Pakistan has responded to India\u2019s attacks; [\u2026] Pakistan and its armed forces are responding to terrorists sent by India via Afghanistan to carry out attacks in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan; entire Pakistan is ready to respond to Modi as he weaponises water.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He recalled that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was in Israel shortly before the US and Israel launched the ongoing war on Iran. Mentioning this, he stressed the need to realise that some powers were looking for opportunities to work against Pakistan, which was leading the efforts to foil their conspiracy of plunging the world into a war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cAll of us should think; Politicians in Pakistan and Kashmir, political workers, the common man and the people who are protesting should realise that we should choose our words carefully in these circumstances.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe should do politics, but in a manner so that an adversary of Pakistan does not get to take advantage of our internal situation,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Then, again mentioning the situation in AJK, he said, \u201cWe all want that all issues be resolved politically and peacefully. We are making efforts for this.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He added that the government\u2019s stance in the matter was justified in a way, as \u201cno one can blackmail the state, and the state is not ready to surrender\u201d. On the other hand, various demands had been put forward, he added without going into further details.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He then shared his and his party\u2019s perspective on the matter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe continuing loss of lives in AJK, including the deaths reported yesterday, is a national tragedy,\u201d he said, expressing his \u201cdeepest condolences\u201d to every bereaved family.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">At least two law enforcers were martyred while seven activists of the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/news\/2005462\"><u>proscribed&nbsp;<\/u><\/a>JAAC lost their lives in separate clashes on Tuesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Bilawal said while addressing PPP members: \u201cEvery Kashmiri life is precious; the death of a peaceful citizen cannot be treated as an acceptable consequence of the political disagreement, just as the life of every police and security official must also be protected.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He emphasised that people of AJK had an \u201cunquestionable right\u201d to raise their political, economic, and constitutional grievances but \u201cpeacefully\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cPeaceful protesters must not engage in violence or hate speech, and the peaceful protesters must also not be indiscriminately branded as terrorists, anti-Pakistan or agents of any foreign power merely for demanding their rights,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The PPP chairman demanded that any specific allegation of violence, whether against a protester or a member of law enforcement, must be investigated \u201cindividually, partially, and according to the law\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe present confrontation cannot be resolved through force or inflammatory accusation, nor can the commitments made in writing be allowed to disappear into competing claims about what has or has not been implemented,\u201d he stressed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Web desk(National Times)- PPP Chairperson Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari said on Wednesday that the situation in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) since last month was \u201cvery concerning\u201d, and the longer it persisted, the more harm would be caused to the Kashmir cause and Pakistan\u2019s reputation. Bilawal expressed these views while addressing his party\u2019s office bearers and ticket [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":129422,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-129421","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-latest_news","entry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Bilawal terms AJK situation concerning, says Kashmir cause, Pakistan&#039;s reputation will be harmed if it persists - Nation<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/129421\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Bilawal terms AJK situation concerning, says Kashmir cause, Pakistan&#039;s reputation will be harmed if it persists - Nation\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Web desk(National Times)- PPP Chairperson Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari said on Wednesday that the situation in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) since last month was \u201cvery concerning\u201d, and the longer it persisted, the more harm would be caused to the Kashmir cause and Pakistan\u2019s reputation. 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