Three months after Shaukat Nawaz Mir—a central leader of the Jammu Kashmir Joint Awami Action Committee in Pakistan-administered Kashmir (AJK)—was taken into custody in public view, the police and administration are now completely denying his arrest, sparking severe concern and anger among lawyers and civil society.
Shaukat Nawaz Mir was not produced in court today. During the High Court hearing, the SSP of Muzaffarabad and the Advocate General stated on record that Shaukat Nawaz Mir is not in police custody; rather, they claimed that while 17 cases are registered against him, he is currently in hiding.
The court adjourned the hearing until September 23, 2026, and directed Shaukat Nawaz Mir’s sister, Yasmeen Mir, to appear alongside her lawyer on the scheduled date.
It is worth noting that three months ago, Shaukat Nawaz Mir was publicly detained by police and security forces.
At that time, the Deputy Commissioner of Muzaffarabad (Munir Qureshi) had personally confirmed to journalist Naseer Chaudhry that Shaukat Nawaz Mir had been arrested in the area between Muzaffarabad and Bagh.
According to earlier records, the SSP of Muzaffarabad (Riaz Mughal) had also stated that Shaukat Nawaz Mir was detained in the Dheerkot area.
Despite these earlier admissions by government officials, the current outright denial of the arrest before the court exposes the double standards of the state and its institutions.
According to analysts and human rights activists, the same tactics are now being employed in AJK that have been used in Balochistan for decades. In Balochistan, too, security forces and intelligence agencies abduct citizens from their homes and highways, subjecting them to enforced disappearance, while the police refuse to register FIRs and officials feign complete ignorance before the media.
Since the government of Kashmir declared the Awami Action Committee an outlawed organization, there has been a massive surge in violations of fundamental human and democratic rights. In Muzaffarabad, the legal community and activists from the Awami Action Committee are vehemently protesting against this state oppression.
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