ISLAMABAD: Minister of State for Interior Senator Talal Chaudhry has said that security forces, during an intelligence-based operation, have captured a network involved in supplying weapons from Afghanistan to the proscribed Joint Awami Action Committee (JAAC) in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK).
Addressing a press conference in Islamabad on Wednesday, the state minister said a government employee was using his official position and government cover as a facilitator for transporting the weapons.
The Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) government on June 5 declared JAAC a proscribed organisation under the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA), alleging the group was involved in terrorism.
Recalling the decision to ban the group, Chaudhry said that the federal government made the move based on available evidence.
He said the recent operation was part of approximately 200 intelligence-based operations being conducted daily across the country as part of ongoing counterterrorism efforts. He said these operations had helped disrupt the “terror-crime nexus” linking Afghanistan, Bara, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and Azad Kashmir.
The state minister went on to say that questions were raised about audio clips that surfaced on social media linked to the JAAC, and whether they were AI-generated.
The state minister identified Zia as a resident of AJK who was “working as a weapons dealer for various people for the past eight to 10 years”.
“For the past two years, he has been directly supplying weapons to the closest members of JAAC,” the minister claimed.
He said Zia was arrested during an IBO carried out after security forces were targeted in a firing incident at Kashmir Mor.
Citing information recovered from his mobile phone and subsequent investigation, Chaudhry said Zia had been in contact with Majid, whom he described as a close associate tasked with carrying out special assignments for JAAC member Sardar Amaan.
The state minister said the close association between Majid and Amaan was “known to everyone who has been involved in negotiations on the issue in Kashmir or has been in contact with JAAC.”
He then played an audio clip featuring a conversation between Zia and Majid about the transportation of armed men and Dragunov rifles. Chaudhry said further details, including the prices of the weapons and the type of ammunition involved, could also be made public.
According to the state minister, Zia was also in contact with Zarshad, who arranged for weapons to be transported from Afghanistan to Bara in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
“We have been saying for some time that these people would eventually expose themselves,” Chaudhry said, adding that intelligence agencies had been monitoring their activities.
Explaining the basis for the authorities’ “doubts” regarding JAAC, Chaudhry said that 37 of the group’s 38 demands had been either partially or fully accepted, with implementation already under way. Despite this, he said, the group announced a long march shortly after the decision was taken to hold elections.
“The aim was to create an environment in which elections could not take place to reinforce the narrative that someone else makes decisions for Kashmiris,” he asserted.
Recalling the violent incidents in AJK a couple of months ago, Chaudhry stressed there was an “entire campaign with preparation” as Zia had provided many consignments over the past two years.
“We will have to differentiate between political struggle and an armed group,” he declared, criticising “any such movement whose aim is to create doubt about state decisions either through statements or actions or supporting groups that destabilise Pakistan”.
“Unfortunately, the political class is also involved in this terror-crime network,” the minister said, contending that “political support” helped fuel stations selling smuggled petrol and the wide use of smuggled vehicles in some districts.
Referring to Zarshad’s alleged audio, the minister noted it mentioned Rs2.2 million, of which Rs1.1m were paid and some of that amount was transferred via illegal means.
Chaudhry said that terrorism could not be completely eliminated without dismantling the nexus between political and government facilitators operating behind smuggling, narcotics, non-customs-paid vehicles, and illegal petrol pumps.
