Countdown to end of 2025: 72 days
It should have been a fresh 0314hrs start but it isn't.
As 'starts' go, this start was at 0800hrs on yesterday's date and it hasn't finished yet. You are probably catching me mid-journey on Day 72 (running backwards).
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This is what I was compelled to write after negotiating a barrage of questions from my co-citizens since yesterday's start:
Understanding the role of an 'individual' (and every other individual) in the formation of a genuine #FreeGovernmentAJK2025
....by collectively exercising #SelfDeterminationJK (in international law parlance) as #JKAPUBLICAGENCY (in local parlance)
I am first and foremost a human being, whose connection to what I describe as Jammu Kashmir & Allied (areas) - or #JKA for short - is much over a millennium old.
In a geopolitical context this territory is the most precious and thus most contested territory on Earth.
A Journey from 'Subject to Citizen'
In 2005, one day in April I learned to my horror and deep anguish that the Indian government did not consider me a human being.
This coincided with the warmest era in the coldly designed relationship between India and Pakistan.
This automatically led me to question whether the governments of Pakistan or even the United Kingdom (successor nomenclature of the British Raaj) considered me a human being or not.
They didn't either.
I was a British citizen with almost a century of lineage in that country and access to the most exclusive power corridors of that country, not least as an international and British parliamentary journalist.
Yet none of that mattered in the context of my relationship with my motherland of JKA.
I was nothing and I had to recreate myself to prove that not only I could exist as a human being but even be acknowledged as one, by all those who wanted to own 'a piece of my land'.
Not just me, that my naani (the mother of my mother) and all the naanis in JKA exist and they all have brothers and sisters forcibly divided for geopolitical convenience.
For fear that the legacy of empire may die.
For decades on end.
The only way I could survive and thrive in this minefield was and remains as an independent action-oriented public policy researcher.
I could not align with any ideology, any country, any party, any organisation or any movement.
I could not even align myself with an employer, a business or any benefactor of any kind; except for family and time tested friends, unconnected to any form of political favour.
Since landing in a neighbouring country in 2005, I shared zero loyalty to anybody or anything but my aspiration to re-unite my naani with her surviving brother and sister across the LOC, divided for 58 years at the time.
#Sehnsa2Mendhar
It took 4 years and 2 months for the Indian government to acknowledge that humanity can emerge, even in an intricately designed conflict zone.
The Hindu
Another 16 years later, the Pakistani government isn't yet ready to acknowledge that humanity can thrive and it took the UK government prolonged & provocative incarceration of their citizen in a Mirpur jail in 2020, to grudgingly acknowledge that the mayhem they created in 1947, despite their assurances that it wouldn't, could mutate towards a saner environment for humanity in the region.
BBC
By 2025, both the USA and China are far more consequential than any of India, Pakistan or even the United Kingdom, in whether we - as a people - and as referenced by all the above (including the United Nations) can acknowledge us as human beings, by accepting our geopolitical neutrality.
This journey from 'Subject to Citizen' is a journey we all share in our very own unique experiences of displacement, now as aspiring citizens of what was geographically a princely State, with all the trappings of modern day nation States - under British suzerainty - but where many people were anxious for power to trickle down from autocracy to democracy, except they didn't negotiate openly or evenly - as a people in consultation with each other - with the global order.
They didn't realise that by deposing the dynastic ruler of the State that ran on the people's blood, sweat & tears for over a century, they were losing their very own 'Right to Rule'.
As an independent researcher, it dawned on me gradually that not only did none of our political parties have genuine political agency within JKA or in the diaspora, even India and Pakistan's respective political agencies were very limited in changing the geopolitical framework in which JKA operates.
They certainly could not pursue peace in a consistent and sustainable manner.
We - the people - lacked genuine internal or external political agency.
How could we impose the peace necessary for our sanity?
That had to be created internally and organically. It has been ready to proceed with the formation of a genuinely free government in the territory of AJK (just less than 6% of JKA but over 25% of its population including its diaspora).
4 steps:
1) The role of 'Zimmidaar' (The Responsible) 2,000 action-oriented researchers to administer this process from village level upwards. Using 'direct democracy' methodology.
#AJKReferendum2023
Objective: Public Mandate
2) All political parties and aspiring politicians decide on number of constituencies and who among them should initially participate in interim coalition government.
#PublicAssemblyAJK
Objective: Political Representation
3) Experts of security, governance, economy and culture (including international law and global diplomacy) convene to work out minimum requirements to practically operate a genuinely free government.
#AwaamiAdaalatAJK
Objective:
(Fulfil the technical requirements of a functioning government as required in today's world)
Design a constitutional & governance framework reflecting #PopularSovereignty with appropriate reward and punishment features - including a schedule for future elections - which would have 25% nominated political representation - proportionately divided by population and nominated by their own people - between Baltistan, Gilgit, Jammu, Kashmir (Valley) & Ladakh.
..
Finally, there were always 2 dimensions of internal people's power needed to regain our de facto sovereignty over the territory of AJK.
1) Mass public mobilisation at short notice and on demand, willing to die in a peaceful struggle for their rights and led by popular (usually) mild mannered and well intentioned aspiring politicians or civil society activists, drawing from all political persuasions and walks of life, fuelled by local traders and the diaspora.
#JAAC (Joint Awami Action Committee) has achieved that while political parties have failed.
(Note that these political parties are also part of JAAC, just that the politics is led by mass public needs, as opposed to the regime's colonial objectives)
This objective was never my domain as an independent researcher, yet I played my part to actively explain by example that the public needed to do this via political parties or alliances etc, whilst I operating as public agency. Anybody can verify this by speaking to activists or keen observers on the ground who have increasingly monitored my work over 2 decades.
One man cannot take the lead in everything or be active in every aspect of public life (we all have our own specific skill sets) and this is a familiar yet unreasonable expectation from our people, which I feel is genetically ingrained.
2) Independent research on public policy & governance, publicly funded by the people rather than special interest groups.
Documentation on public opinion and historical material.
Examining international law/global diplomacy constraints and opportunities.
Designing a framework for a solution. Identifying missing elements in the journey from 'Subject to Citizen' and trying to address those gaps.
In conclusion, this is statecraft through public agency, authenticated by the voices & pockets of the people, without exclusion or exception.
As a final example, in our shared geography Dogra Gulab Singh created the State of Jammu & Kashmir in 1846, by negotiating with the British Raaj (the pre-eminent global colonial power of the era) and by offering shares to exclusive chieftains who all benefitted, arguably at the expense of the majority of the population.
From interviewing or discussing the future of JKA with over 250,000 people (one to one) from all over the divided territory for over 2 decades, most agree that the 'people' (referenced by international law) have not had an impact since 1947. Effectively, they have been disenfranchised from the enfranchisement they were seeking pre 1947.
As public agency, we are striving to address both pre & post 1947 grievances & aspirations, by continuing to consult evenly and openly with each other to create a public mandate, followed by political representation and then fulfilling the technical requirements for a functioning government.
We have created a 56 member representative 'working group' since the summer of 2024 to scrutinise this procedure.
Unlike, Gulab Singh we are negotiating with all stakeholders (Riyasati Bashindey #SSR1927 ) before we engage with the prevailing 'global order' and we are offering shares to all stakeholders without exception, rather than any exclusive interest group or tribal orientation.
We must create a contract between ourselves before we attempt to create a contract with the world.
JKA PUBLIC AGENCY Note: #E024221102025
Further Essential Reading:
1) #FreeGovtAJK2025
2) #PeaceBondAJK2025
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Today marked the first meeting between the Joint Awami Action Committee (JAAC) and Pakistan's State representatives since that ill-fated 4th of October (2025) agreement between the 2 aforementioned parties. Here is a summary of that meeting, which was held in Pakistan's capital today:
Amongst other weaknesses of the Pakistani State, you will notice their lackadaisical approach and it will get worse with time if this 25 point agreement endures.
For background reference please refer to the 25 point agreement between Pakistan's federation and JAAC on 4th October 2025 and Original 38 point Charter of Demands of JAAC.
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