Mobile, internet services begin restoring in AJK's Mirpur after 45-day suspension

• Bilawal thanks AJK election commission for intervention.
• Internet, digital connectivity to be restored soon: Bilawal.
• Services begin restoring ahead of polls, starting July 27.

Mobile phone and internet services started restoring in Mirpur city and its adjoining areas in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) on Thursday after a 45-day disruption.

Connectivity had remained suspended across Mirpur for the past 45 days, affecting residents, businesses and routine communication in the area.

Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari confirmed the development in a post on X, saying he had been hearing that "internet and digital connectivity will be restored in Mirpur AJK soon".

"I'm grateful to the AJK PPP for their efforts [and] the election commission of AJK for their intervention," he wrote.

The PPP chief expressed hope that the party's requests for the restoration of internet and mobile phone services in Muzaffarabad and other areas will also be accepted at the earliest.

Bilawal had repeatedly called for the restoration of internet and cellular services across the region during the election campaign.

In an address to party workers in Mirpur on Wednesday, he said that both the protesters and the state were "punishing" the masses due to the suspension of internet and cellular services.

The restoration of the services comes as the region gears up for elections next week.

AJK Chief Election Commissioner Ghulam Mustafa Mughal on July 21 announced that elections in the region would be held in three phases, beginning July 27.

According to the election commissioner, Mirpur Division will vote first on July 27, Muzaffarabad Division on August 2 and Poonch Division on August 10.

Internet and cellular services were suspended last month after protests by the banned Jammu Kashmir Joint Awami Action Committee (JAAC) demanding the abolition of 12 refugee seats in the AJK Assembly turned violent.

The AJK government later banned JAAC, declaring it a proscribed organisation under the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA).

The ban was imposed days ahead of the banned outfit's planned June 9 protest seeking the abolition of 12 seats in the AJK reserved for refugees from Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) who migrated to Pakistan after 1947.