Tensions prevail in PoK as clashes continue between security forces and JAAC activists amid elections
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- Joint Awami Action Committee (JAAC) has clashed with security forces in PoK's Rawalkot and Mirpur regions since Monday (July 27, 2026), with the group claiming at least 37 people including women and children were killed; Pakistan denies any civilian deaths
- JAAC demonstrators have been staging protests for nearly two months over 12 contentious Legislative Assembly seats, alleging the establishment manoeuvres these seats to install a Prime Minister of its choosing
- Pakistan's State Minister for Interior Talal Chaudhary blamed banned Tehrik-e Taliban militants among the protesters and declared "We will not talk to the protesters and law will take its course"
- India's MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal called the protests "direct consequences of Pakistan's economic exploitation, its denial of the people's fundamental rights, and its administrative oppression," reiterating India's claim over PoK as integral territory
- Amnesty International and the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan expressed concerns over the violence and called on authorities to probe the incidents
- JAAC activists remain determined to march toward Muzaffarabad to press Islamabad to accept their demands despite the crackdown
Why it matters: Pakistan's blanket denial of civilian deaths stands against the JAAC's claim of 37 killed — including women and children — while even Pakistan's own Human Rights Commission demands investigations alongside Amnesty. The unrest exposes fault lines over Islamabad's administrative control of PoK, and India's MEA is seizing the moment to spotlight "economic exploitation" and "administrative oppression" in territory it claims as its own.
