NEWS & ARTICLES
At least 40 dead in AJK as pre-election violence exposes the cost of mishandling a legitimate rights movement
ALLNEWSPAKISTAN-CONTROLLED KASHMIR
At least 40 people have been killed in the run-up to legislative elections in Azad Jammu and Kashmir, with 34 confirmed as protesters and six as police and paramilitary personnel. The violence, concentrated primarily in Rawalakot in Poonch Division, has followed months of demonstrations led by the Joint Awami Action Committee over the removal of reserved assembly seats for Kashmiri exile and refugee communities, power shortages, inflation, and political marginalisation. The AJK government's decision to proscribe the JAAC under anti-terrorism legislation in June 2026 poured fuel onto a fire that outside actors were already working to inflame.
Kashmir Conflict states what the conduct of AJK security forces during this period has produced. Documented instances of live fire against protesters, including in Rawalakot and Dadyal, have drawn direct and damaging comparisons to Indian regime methods in Indian-controlled Kashmir. Those comparisons are not unfair. If protesters have perpetrated violence, that is documentable and prosecutable through legitimate means. Firing live rounds into crowds is not a proportionate response in any framework of legitimate governance. The AJK government has handled this crisis poorly, and 40 Kashmiris on both sides of the confrontation are dead as a result. That is a failure with consequences that extend beyond the elections that prompted it.
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