1408hrs:
Countdown to end of 2025: 50 days
Despite getting to bed last night at 2100hrs (9pm) and falling asleep before 2200hrs, I couldn't get up before 1000hrs this morning. This has probably been my longest sleep at Maqbool Bhat Martyr's Square over these past 26 days of camping out at the square.
I will try again tomorrow.
....
One has to share the pain of a woman in Gilgit Baltistan, whose husband was shot in front of her. I knew her husband, he was an activist extra-ordinaire who worked long and hard for his people. He had visited me at my home in Sehnsa along with Nawaz Khan Naji, way back in 2013.
To: The Honourable DIG, Government of Pakistan, Gilgit
Respected Sir,
I, Nashat Parveen, widow of the late Javed Qureshi, respectfully request that you arrest my husband’s killers as soon as possible and ensure they are punished according to the law. My husband was martyred in Tangir in front of me and our children, yet the police have still not arrested the perpetrators.
I am a woman — how long must I keep wandering from door to door? Are the poor, weak and helpless to be denied justice in this Islamic democratic society? To whom should I appeal? Will we not be held accountable before Allah? I am suffering greatly; please have mercy on my innocent children. The killers are roaming freely and without fear, yet they have not been apprehended.
I have just been informed that they are hiding in their home, in a wheat store, in Tangir. I beg you, by Allah, to take action: please arrest them and ensure they receive the punishment they deserve.
We will remain forever grateful and will pray for you.
Yours faithfully,
Nashat Parveen
Widow of Javed Qureshi
Gilgit.
....
From time to time, I will continue to feature snippets (or more) of conversations from other forums, just to give our readers an idea of where the battle of ideas is stuck at, in the few thinkers in AJK. Here is a part of what Yasin Anjum is writing in reference to upcoming elections in AJK (which I am vociferously against):
البتہ انتظار نہیں۔۔ آنے والے الیکشن کیلئے مکمل سیاسی، معاشی ترقی کا پروگرام مرتب کرنا ھے
۔۔
The following was my response in Roman Urdu:
Aap aaney waaley election ka kyou intezaar kar rahey hain? Awaam ki power wazay hay, yaha ke nizaam ki nakaami bhi. Aap log itni choot kyou detey ho nizaam ko?
Ghaaliban Pakistan se aye huwey federal team jis ne JAAC ke saath muzaakaraat kiye....unho ne bhi aap ke awaami numaindey (yani JAAC ki 3 rukni team) se poocha ke aap ke paas koi mutabaadil hay?
Ghaaliban un ka jawaab 'na' me tha.
۔۔
Saajid Hussain of Palandri put forward the following explanation:
ہم سب مستقبل کی اچھی خواہشات دل میں بسائے زندہ ہیں ان پر عملی کام کہیں نہیں ہو رہا۔ زبانی زبانی انقلاب لائیں گئے ۔
۔۔
In turn, I reminded everybody of my ultimatum:
Aap sab ke paas sirf 50 din bachtey hain. Apni soch aur strategy badal ne ka. Andar dekho, baahir nahi. Jo taaqat darkaar hay, wo yahi pe hay.
....
At the conclusion of a district meeting of the Joint Awami Action Committee (JAAC) at Kotli today, their core committee member Imtiaz Aslam made it clear that their demands were not being met, in reference to the 4th of October 2025 Agreement with Pakistan's representatives:
The video above can also be accessed here. ....
