Minister of State for Interior Tallal Chaudhry said authorities had traced a “network” allegedly linked to the proscribed Joint Awami Action Committee (JAAC), including a weapons dealer.

Addressing a press conference in Islamabad, the minister recalled the government’s move to proscribe the JAAC in Azad Jammu and Kashmir in June. He observed that many questions were raised, including whether the ban was a political decision.

“At that time too, you were told that they were proscribed with great responsibility, based on the evidence that has reached us, investigation into which is underway and many things have surfaced,” he said.

The state minister went on to say that questions were raised about audio clips that surfaced on social media, allegedly linked to the JAAC, and whether they were AI-generated.

He then played a montage of news channels’ reporting on the situation in AJK in recent months, including incidents and footage that the authorities linked to JAAC as well as attacks on security personnel.

“Many of our critics continued to criticise these as well without knowing the facts,” Chaudhry remarked.

The state minister said a “network was captured” during an IBO, which began with tracing a person named Zia. He 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 obtained from his mobile phone and subsequent backtracking, Chaudhry said Zia was in contact with Majid, whom he said carried out special tasks for JAAC member Sardar Amaan.

The minister said close ties between Majid and Amaan were “known to everyone who has been part of negotiations on this issue in Kashmir or was in contact with JAAC”.

An audio clip was then played, allegedly of a conversation between Zia and Majid about sending armed men and Dragunov rifles. Chaudhry claimed more information, such as the cost of weapons and the ammunition used, could be presented before the public.

Zia was connected with Zarshad, who used to send weapons from Afghanistan to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Bara, according to the minister.

He then played “one of the audio clips available with intelligence agencies”, allegedly of Zia and Zarshad speaking about various weapons such as Kalashnikovs.

“We have been saying for a while that these people would expose themselves,” Chaudhry said, highlighting that intelligence agencies were noticing them.

He explained the reasoning for the “doubts” against JAAC, noting that 37 of its 38 demands had been “partially or completely agreed upon and implementation had been initiated”, but the group announced a long march “as soon as it was decided 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”.

The state minister played a video statement of a man who identified himself as Zia and a resident of AJK’s Sudhanoti district.

He said he had remained affiliated with the senior leadership of JAAC and recalled his communication with Zarshad and Akbar for procuring weapons. The person further said he had been involved in attacks on security forces in AJK.

Govt employee role and ‘political-crime network’

The state minister noted that the question arose of the logistics of supplying the weapons even though security forces were present on the border.

He then said that a government employee named Akbar “played an important role in this”, noting that he had the “cover to carry such items without security forces and hiding them”.

Chaudhry described Akbar as a “carrier”, adding that he was an employee of an “important institution and used to bring all weapons under the cover that no one would check him”.

The minister explained that the weapons network extended from Afghanistan to AJK’s Kotli via KP’s Bara, using local facilitators. He then played an audio clip, allegedly of Zia speaking to Akbar.

“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.

“Many people have stakes in this political-crime network.”

Chaudhry observed that one of the 20 points of the national counter-terrorism drive was to eradicate the “terror-crime network”, which included illegal petrol pumps, narcotics and other activities that provided financial and logistical support to the network.

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 hawala/hundi.

At the outset of his press conference, Chaudhry said about 200 IBOs were carried out daily.

He noted the “role of Afghanistan and the people sitting in Afghanistan in terrorism in Pakistan and efforts to destabilise Pakistan”.

The state minister said there was a “terror-crime network here, which many people call their business but we call it a terror-crime nexus”, adding that it facilitated a plethora of illegal activities, such as smuggling of narcotics, vehicles, petroleum products and supply of weapons from ordinary criminals to large networks.

“This entire terror crime network facilitates the kind of actions that in Pakistan appear as terrorism and actions that are sponsored and managed in an organised manner through our eastern and western borders alike, from those two countries unfortunately.”