PoK poll unrest deepens as Asif rejects talks and JAAC alleges 37 deaths

Islamabad,UPDATED: Jul 29, 2026 18:00 IST

Pakistan Defence Minister Khawaja Asif has called protesters in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir enemies and said there will be no dialogue with them, even as the Joint Awami Action Committee said on Wednesday that Pakistani security forces had killed 37 people in the past two days. The JAAC said the deaths took place during a long march that began on Monday, the same day as the first phase of elections to the so-called legislative assembly. Its claim could not be independently verified.

Even as Asif rejected talks, Prime Minister's Adviser Rana Sanaullah said the JAAC had met him and submitted 38 demands. The unrest has also led to market closures in Mirpur, suspension of internet services and what the JAAC described as a complete media ban in Pakistan on coverage of the protests.

Talking to reporters on Tuesday, Asif said, "There will be no dialogue with the protesters. I bracket them with India. I put them in the same category as India and consider them as enemies of Pakistan." Sanaullah, however, said the JAAC had held a meeting with him and presented its demands.

Sanaullah alleged that the protesters wanted to seize Muzaffarabad and Mirpur by force and said they were carrying out an "India-like attack". He also said no one had been killed in clashes between law-enforcement personnel and protesters.

In a statement on Wednesday, the JAAC said 37 unarmed and peaceful protesters had been killed in the past two days, including women and children who were not part of the protests. It said many others were critically injured with bullet wounds, adding, "Hospitals are under forces' control, doctors have been removed, medical stores have no medicines left. Volunteers who try to pick up the dead or injured are also being fired upon." The group urged Doctors Without Borders to send independent international medical teams to Rawalakot immediately.

According to BBC Urdu, shops and markets in Mirpur remained shut on Wednesday. Authorities have suspended internet services in the region. The JAAC also said there has been a complete media ban in Pakistan on coverage of its protest.

In an interview with Geo News on Tuesday, Sanaullah said militants once trained by Pakistan had later turned their guns on the country. He said the protesters in PoK were similar to the 'mujahideen' Pakistan had trained in the past but who later turned against it. He added that the protesters included members of organisations with access to weapons and "no genuine political demands". "They want to use people as human shields and play a game," he said, adding that the law-enforcement agencies had no option but to act against them.

Pakistan's involvement with militant groups during the Afghan war and their later activities has long faced international scrutiny. Several studies have documented state support for militant groups operating in Afghanistan and Kashmir, while also tracing how parts of that infrastructure later contributed to violence inside Pakistan.

The violence came during elections to the 53-seat so-called PoK legislative assembly, where 45 seats are directly elected and eight are reserved for women, technocrats and clerics. In the first phase on Monday, held in 13 seats, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz won nine seats and the Pakistan Peoples Party four. The remaining 32 seats will vote on August 2 and 10. Former prime minister Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf has boycotted the polls, making it a direct contest between the two parties. The first phase was marred by violence and allegations of large-scale rigging.

The JAAC has been protesting since last month over 12 disputed seats in the regional assembly and alleges that the establishment uses those seats to install a prime minister of its choice. It began protests and a long march across PoK on June 9. Before Monday's violence, 40 people had reportedly been killed during the unrest, including 34 protesters and six police and paramilitary personnel. The government had opened talks with the JAAC before the assembly elections, but no settlement has been reached.

India on Tuesday said the elections were an attempt by Pakistan to hide its illegal occupation and "grave" human rights violations in the region. External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said in Delhi, "India's position on this matter has been clear, consistent, and well known. The entire Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh, including the areas currently under Pakistan's illegal and forcible occupation, are integral and inalienable parts of India." He added, "As we have stated earlier, the ongoing mass protests in Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir are the direct consequences of Pakistan's economic exploitation, its denial of the people's fundamental rights, and its administrative oppression."

The latest unrest in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir has unfolded alongside the assembly election process, with Pakistani ministers taking a hard line against the protesters, the JAAC alleging deaths and repression, and earlier talks between the two sides still yielding no agreement.

With PTI Inputs

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