Jammu Kashmir Joint Awami Action Committee

The Jammu Kashmir Joint Awami Action Committee (commonly abbreviated JKJAAC or JAAC) is a grassroots civil-society coalition and a socio-political organization based in the Pakistan-administered Kashmir, known as Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK). It brings together traders, transporters, lawyers, students and other civic groups to press a mix of economic and governance demands — most prominently lower wheat and flour prices, electricity tariffs tied to local hydropower, and reductions in privileges for political and bureaucratic elites. The coalition emerged from a series of local trader- and rights-led mobilisations in 2023 and formalised as a cross-regional body later that year; it became the leading organiser of the large-scale unrest that gripped AJK in 2024 and resurfaced with renewed mass actions in 2025.

The JAAC movement is driven by a comprehensive 38-point Charter of Demands. These demands are categorised into two main areas: immediate economic relief and long-term structural changes. Economically, the JAAC demands significantly reduced power tariffs for AJK consumers, calculated based on the production cost of electricity generated from local hydro-projects like the Mangla Dam, and subsidised wheat flour prices equivalent to those offered in neighbouring Gilgit-Baltistan. Structurally, the movement insists on the abolition of perks and privileges enjoyed by the political elite and bureaucracy, and the removal of 12 seats in the AJK Legislative Assembly that are currently reserved for Pakistan-based refugees from Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir.

The JAAC's rise to prominence stems from its ability to unite fragmented, localised grievances over economic hardship into a coordinated, statewide political force, fundamentally challenging the political status quo. The demand for electricity at production cost moves the discourse beyond simple subsidy requests toward a constitutional debate concerning AJK's degree of political autonomy, resource ownership, and royalty from locally exploited infrastructure, implying that the AJK populace possesses inherent ownership rights over resources within its territory. The organization views its movement as a necessary response to years of perceived economic exploitation and administrative neglect perpetrated by both the AJK administration and the Federal Government of Pakistan.