MUZAFFARABAD (Kashmir English): An intelligence-based operation (IBO) has uncovered external linkages of an armed network operating in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) under the guise of public rights, the Federal Ministry of Interior said in a statement.
The ministry also posted a video of an arms dealer, Zia, on X, confessing to supplying weapons and ammunition to members of the proscribed Joint Awami Action Committee (JAAC).
According to the ministry, the operation exposed an alleged illegal arms-smuggling network operating from Afghanistan, with one of its alleged handlers identified as Zarshad in Nangarhar.
“The Afghanistan-based ring was involved in supplying these weapons to proscribed JAAC operative Zia in AJK, via Tirah and Bara in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.”
In his confession video, Zia, a resident of Sudhanoti district in AJK, said that he has been involved in illegal purchase, sale, and supply of weapons for the past eight years and for the last two years he has been associated with JAAC.
Immense appreciation is due to our intelligence agencies for executing a highly successful Intelligence-Based Operation (IBO) that has exposed external linkages of the dangerous armed nexus operating under the guise of public rights in Azad Jammu Kashmir. pic.twitter.com/Xw0aCsQLlf
— Ministry of Interior GoP (@MOIofficialGoP) September 16, 2026
He also confessed to being in contact with senior leadership of the action committee, including Sardar Aman, Khwaja Mehran, and Nazim Kashmiri, and to managing illegal arms supplies to the organisation.
Zia also claimed that armed individuals associated with the Joint Awami Action Committee have been present in the sit-ins across AJK over the past three months.
Ultimately, the ministry said, the arrest of Zia and further investigation also uncovered that the “Afghan Taliban regime is providing safe haven to terrorists and actively enabling a terror-crime nexus, not only in Pakistan but in the region as well.”
“A series of undeniable evidence has already surfaced, cementing the fact that the proscribed JAAC is a violent group actively working against the best interests of the people of AJK,” the ministry stated.
It stated that this network proves that the “violent JAAC relies on external linkages that are bankrolling and funding its destabilizing activities.”
