The Azad Jammu and Kashmir government has declared holidays on Friday and Saturday in Muzaffarabad due to the law and order situation in the region after action committees’ protest against the wheat crisis and electricity tariff that changed after police shell allegedly fell in a girl’s school.

In a statement, the district magistrate said that the AJK Joint Awami Committee had announced its shutter-down and wheel-jam strike on May 11.

“For security reasons and in order to maintain the law and order situation, all private and public education institutions [universities, colleges, schools, and academies] will remain closed from May 10 to May 11 [Friday and Saturday],” it said.

Meanwhile, the district has also imposed a ban on the gathering of more than five people in Muzaffarabad, Mirpur, Kotli, Bhambir, Poonch, Haveli, Sidhonti, Neelum, and Jhelum valley under Section 144 of CrPC for 10 days.

The committee has claimed that its several leaders have been arrested in several cities in police crackdown.

But IGP Suhail Habib Tajik has claimed that police have arrested some groups comprising 25 members and it has been revealed they were on the Indian intelligence agency’s “payroll” to disturb the law and order situation and spread chaos.

AJK Interior Minister Col (retd) Waqar Ahmed Noor said that the government did not want to “clash” with anyone and neither has it had any intention. He said that the government was ready to hold talks.

He added that a government officer was held hostage for four hours and a government vehicle was torched. Noor claimed that a violent group picked up a shell and threw it in the nearby school and propagated that a girl was killed, but “no such incident took place.”

The AJK Joint Action Committee listed 10 demands before the government

• Wheat subsidy similar to Gilgit Baltistan
• Electricity tariff should be determined from the cost of electricity production from the Mangla Hydropower Project in AJK
• Unnecessary perks and privileges of the ruling class and officials should be completely eliminated
• Restrictions on student unions should be lifted, and elections should be conducted
• Kashmir Bank should be scheduled
• Municipal representatives should be given funds and powers
• Cellular companies and internet services should be standardised
• Property transfer taxes should be reduced
• Accountability Bureau should be made active in AJK and amendments should be made to the Act
• Practical restrictions should be imposed on tree cutting and legislation should be enacted to revitalize the local wood industry