The mall has reopened after talks between the district administration and the merchants who had been protesting since the mall’s closure the previous morning. The shopkeepers had barricaded Jinnah Avenue in protest and threatened to stop the city’s traffic if the mall wasn’t allowed to open.
The Azad Jammu and Kashmir Prime Minister Sardar Tanveer Ilyas, who is also the mall’s owner, led a protest during Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s speech in Mangla, according to the PTI, which claimed responsibility for the mall’s closure.
Imran Khan asserted, “The sealing of [mall] by PDM mafia in response to PM AJK reprimanding Shehbaz Sharif for failing to mention sacrifices of Kashmiris shows there has been law of the jungle in Pakistan for the past eight months.”
Ch Fawad Hussain, the PTI leader, also criticised the action. According to a tweet from Fawad, “AJK PM during [Prime Minister] Shehbaz Sharif’s address stood on his seat and protested against Pakistan’s soft attitude on the Kashmir problem, for which first his car was stopped in Mangla and now his business has been sealed.
“There has never been an administration as fascist as this one in the history of Pakistan. What message are you sending to international investors in the country and occupied Kashmir if the PM of AJK receives such punishment simply for protesting? Such moves will only worsen the already fragile economy, tweeted Fawad.
Marriyum Aurangzeb, the minister for information and broadcasting, criticised the PTI leader in a tweet, calling him a failure on many levels, including