Shops Shut, Streets Empty Across PoK After Deadly Clashes Between Protesters And Pakistani Forces
Shops Shut, Streets Empty Across PoK After Deadly Clashes Between Protesters And Pakistani Forces Published By, Last Updated: June 09, 2026, 22:09 IST Muzaffarabad shuts
Shops Shut, Streets Empty Across PoK After Deadly Clashes Between Protesters And Pakistani Forces Published By, Last Updated: June 09, 2026, 22:09 IST Muzaffarabad shuts down as protests in PoK escalate, JAAC says 27 killed, Pakistan bans JAAC as terrorist group, suspends telecoms, India condemns alleged brutality **EDS: SCREENGRAB VIA PTI VIDEOS** Muzaffarabad: Police officials patrol an area amid the ongoing violence in PoK, where 11 people, including four police officers, were killed and hundreds injured dur Muzaffarabad was a ghost town on Tuesday. Markets shuttered, roads empty, bus terminals deserted. Residents of the regional capital and other towns told The Associated Press that markets were largely empty and bus terminals abandoned. The silence on the streets is followed by days of gunfire. According to the Joint Awami Action Committee (JAAC), at least 27 protesters were killed, more than 200 injured and over 100 detained during operations by the Pakistani military and state-security personnel. The committee alleged that security forces opened fire on mourners gathered for a funeral in Rawalakot in PoK, triggering widespread anger and fresh protests. Pakistan’s official figures failed to reflect the real picture. Telecom and internet services in PoK have been suspended, while additional contingents of the Pakistan Federal Police and Pakistan Rangers have been deployed to Muzaffarabad.
What The People Of PoK Actually Want Initially sparked by economic grievances, the protest escalated into a wider grassroots movement reflecting deep-seated public frustration. The movement proved its strength in May 2024 when a long march towards Muzaffarabad turned deadly, killing five people. That standoff ended after Islamabad stepped in with subsidies to slash flour and electricity prices, but the relief was temporary. By August 2025, the JAAC released a 38-point charter of demands going far beyond cheaper bread and electricity, including the abolition of 12 legislative assembly seats reserved for refugees from Kashmir who settled in Pakistan after 1947. JAAC claims that these seats are filled using fake State Subject certificates to benefit influential political figures rather than genuine stakeholders, with citizens protesting the allocation of local land and resources to elite individuals under the guise of welfare for the local destitute. People in PoK are being governed by legislators who do not live there, selected by a system designed in Islamabad, answerable to Islamabad. In one widely circulated message, a young Kashmiri woman captured the entire crisis in a single sentence: “We ask for wheat and electricity and you give us bullets." Pakistan’s Response: Ban The Movement, Bounty The Leaders When negotiation failed, the Home Department formally declared the JAAC, a committee backed by local traders, lawyers, students and civil society, a proscribed terrorist organisation, days before the June 9 protest.
Then, on Tuesday, Pakistani authorities went further. They announced a reward of Rs 10 million for information leading to the arrest of JAAC’s central leaders, including Shaukat Nawaz Mir, Omar Nazir Kashmiri, Sardar Aman and Khawaja Mehran, with a promise of confidentiality for informants. A civil society alliance asking for flour subsidies and fair elections was assigned the same legal category as a terrorist network, and a bounty was placed on its leadership. The JAAC’s official headquarters were sealed shut by Pakistani Rangers. Even Pakistan’s own Human Rights Commission could not hold its silence. The HRCP said it was “deeply alarmed" by the ongoing violence and expressed serious concern about the regional government’s decision to proscribe the JAAC under anti-terrorism legislation. That condemnation came from within Islamabad’s own institutional architecture. It did not change anything on the ground. New Delhi’s Response Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal, speaking in New Delhi on Tuesday, called the situation in PoK for what it was. “There are reports of severe police brutality in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir in which several protesters have been killed and many injured. We hope the international community will hold Pakistan accountable for its misdeeds and abuses," he said. He added that Pakistan was running a coordinated disinformation campaign to suppress the story internationally, describing “a pattern of fake news and videos emanating from Pakistan" as a deliberate attempt to “cover up its own failings." The scheduled general elections for PoK are set for the final week of July 2026, now heavily shadowed by this prolonged civil agitation.
News18 Newsletter Handpicked stories, in your inbox A newsletter with the best of our journalism submit About the Author Anoshito Banerjee Anoshito Banerjee is a digital journalist at CNN-News18, specialising in Indian foreign policy, global diplomacy, South and West Asian geopolitics, and strategic affairs. His reporting spans hard news... Read More First Published: June 09, 2026, 22:09 IST News world Shops Shut, Streets Empty Across PoK After Deadly Clashes Between Protesters And Pakistani Forces Disclaimer: Comments reflect users’ views, not News18’s. Please keep discussions respectful and constructive. Abusive, defamatory, or illegal comments will be removed. News18 may disable any comment at its discretion. By posting, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy Loading comments...
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