Islamabad, June 28 (SocialNews.XYZ) The unrest in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) must serve as a compelling case for independent fact-finding mission by the United Nations and other international organisations to carry out investigation into the Pakistani army's excesses, civilian deaths, arbitrary arrests, and human rights violations in PoK, a report has detailed.
The current unrest in PoK started in 2023, with protests staged over electricity tariffs and flour shortages. The Jammu Kashmir Joint Awami Action Committee (JKJAAC), a coalition of traders, lawyers, transporters, students and civil society groups, formulated a 38-point charter of demands, including subsidised rate for essentials and electoral reforms. The group has demanded abolishing 12 assembly seats reserved for Kashmiri refugees living outside the region, which local residents said are undermining their political voice, according to a report in the US-based Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI).
People of PoK have economic grievances also as the region contributes substantially to Pakistan's hydropower generation. However, residents of PoK have complained about paying electricity tariffs above production costs while consumers and officials in other parts of Pakistan pay preferential rates.
The unrest has led to strikes, clashes, barricades, arrests, and heavy security deployments in Muzaffarabad, Rawalakot, and other parts of PoK. Clashes erupted in Rawalakot with several media reports claiming that 27 people were killed and more than 200 others were injured.
However, the International Human Rights Foundation (IHRF) said that more than 32 people were killed from June 8-16 and demanded an independent international investigation. The Pakistani authorities banned JKJAAC under anti-terror provisions and targeted its leaders, ordered sedition cases against prominent figures, suspended internet and mobile networks in PoK, according to the report in MEMRI.
"The language used against JKJAAC follows the familiar script of Pakistan's security establishment: first delegitimise the grievance, then criminalise the protester, then justify force as law and order. A movement demanding cheaper electricity, wheat relief, local rights and political representation is now being pushed into the frame of sedition, terrorism, and anti-national activity. This is how the hard state manufactures its own justification: It turns public anger into a security file," Fatima El Hashimi, Moroccan researcher and journalist, mentioned in the report in MEMRI.
Large sit-ins, including gatherings of more than 70,000 people at Eidgah Ground in Rawalakot, continued into the third week of June, with protesters shouting slogans like "Pak Forces Out" and demanding an end to occupation. The unrest in PoK demonstrates more than a local governance crisis as it tests Pakistan's Kashmir policy and the narrative it has been promoting for years.
"The events in PoJK since 2023 provide evidence that challenges Pakistan's claim on factual grounds. Residents of the territory have protested against the administration that Islamabad controls. That administration has responded with force, communications blackouts, and anti-terrorism designations applied to civilian protest groups," Fatima El Hashimi mentioned in the report in MEMRI.
"The international community must act. There is a compelling case for an independent fact-finding mission by the UN and other international organisations to investigate the Pakistani army's excesses, civilian deaths, arbitrary arrests, and human rights violations in PoJK," Fatima El Hashimi mentioned in the report in MEMRI," the author added.
On June 16, the IHRF strongly condemned the violent crackdown on peaceful protestors in PoK by Pakistani authorities. It said that the crackdown was followed by the complete suspension of internet and mobile networks across the region, the deployment of federal paramilitary troops and mass arbitrary arrests of over 100 activists and leaders.
The rights body also cited travel restrictions barring outsiders from entering the region and the arrest of journalist Sohrab Barkat under Pakistan’s Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act.
"Branding a civil society body as 'terrorist' on vague grounds, while simultaneously sealing the region from outside scrutiny, constitutes a disproportionate and unlawful violation of the right to freedom of association," IHRF stated.
The rights body said that the crackdown was not an isolated incident but part of a systemic pattern of human rights violations in PoK.
The IHRF also documented a recurring trend of deadly crackdowns on JAAC protests, including violence in May 2024 and October 2025 that claimed multiple lives.
The rights body called on the Pakistani authorities to immediately halt the use of deadly force against peaceful protesters, lift the internet shutdown, release all individuals arbitrarily detained, and revoke the "unlawful ban" on JAAC.
It also urged an independent and impartial investigation into all civilian deaths, with full access for international observers, and accountability for those responsible for the unlawful use of force, including the alleged extrajudicial killing of activist Shahzeb Habib.
Source: IANS
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