Pakistani forces accused of LMG fire, food-medicine-fuel blockade and shop looting as diaspora and Imran Khan’s party demand justice.
There are ongoing large-scale protests still going on in Azad Jammu and Kashmir as of today the 8th August 2026, led by the Jammu Kashmir Joint Awami Action Committee (JAAC).
Overseas Kashmiri diaspora groups have held significant protests (notably large ones in London) has expressed solidarity with the Azad Kashmir protesters in solidarity with JAAC and reject government lies.
Pakistan imposed a media blackout and internet shutdown. It never took such steps in Balochistan or Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, yet it did so the moment public protests began in Azad Jammu and Kashmir.
Al Jazeera’s limited visit to Muzaffarabad exposed what the channel described as the Pakistani government’s complete falsehoods. In response, Pakistan banned Al Jazeera, and all foreign journalists are now required to obtain prior permission before leaving the major cities of Islamabad, Lahore and Karachi. These restrictions stem directly from the situation in AJK. .
Why? The measures indicate that Pakistan is seeking to conceal alleged war crimes and genocide committed by its forces against the unarmed, peaceful and innocent people of Azad Jammu and Kashmir.
Context of the protests
The protests focused on several key demands, including the abolition of 12 reserved seats in the assembly. These seats stem from the 1974 Act, a document imposed by the Pakistani government without the consent of AJK’s elected body. Among patriotic Kashmiris, it is widely known as the “document of slavery.”
Under its provisions, no Kashmiri may form a political party or campaign against the region’s accession solely to Pakistan. Those who disagree with this accession are barred from contesting elections and are denied government jobs. Critics argue that these restrictions violate the fundamental principle of the right to self-determination. The reserved seats have long been viewed as a mechanism for maintaining external control over the local legislature.
Additional demands addressed economic grievances—such as electricity tariffs, wheat and flour subsidies, and the distribution of resources—along with calls for political reforms and an end to repression. The Joint Awami Action Committee (JAAC) organized strikes, sit-ins (particularly in Rawalakot), long marches, and boycotts in support of these demands.
Casualty and force claims
JAAC leaders and eye witnesses noted and documented high numbers of civilian deaths from security force firing (Pakistani Rangers, FC and police, etc.), describing indiscriminate use of force, including against people who were at sit-ins or marches. The eye witnesses documented forty (40) peaceful protestors killed just in last two days and cumulative figures in the range of 120 since early June, with thousands protestors injured.
My own movements in London have been monitored, which indicates that every Kashmiri who raises their voice or demands justice for the victims becomes a target of Pakistani authorities, whether at home or abroad.
Social media activists and local journalists have been arrested and are now subjected to torture in illegal detention centres operated by the forces. 
Tayyab Khalid, a resident of Green Town in Rawalakot, died in Saudi Arabia. Although his body was returned, Pakistani occupation forces had forcibly occupied his home in Green Town, preventing the family from receiving their loved one’s remains there. These actions reflect the barbaric policies carried out by the occupation forces. 
An Islamabad Anti-Terrorism Court has remanded 88 people to 14-day judicial custody in connection with a July 31 demonstration in F-10 Markaz held in solidarity with ongoing protests in Azad Jammu and Kashmir. Among those detained are three sisters, including Samaa TV journalist Azra Alam, who was arrested along with her mother and sisters. Supporters describe their participation as limited to a peaceful protest.
Rights groups including Amnesty International and the Human Rights Foundation have criticized the crackdown, reporting the use of force, mass arrests, and communications blackouts, and have called for independent investigations. Some protester accounts allege that security forces deployed light machine guns or other military-grade weapons. Separate claims circulating online assert that artificial intelligence tools have been used to hack phones and disseminate government narratives aimed at concealing alleged abuses in Azad Jammu and Kashmir; this is in line with government action to restrict foreign journalist to obtain prior permission which mean they are hiding the facts.
Restrictions on supplies and other allegations
Vehicles loaded with goods heading
toward AJK stopped at entry point.
Is it not to conspire the collective
death of the population of Azad
Jammu and Kashmir
Multiple reports from residents, drivers, opposition figures, and outlets (including BBC Urdu references) describe shortages of food, medicines, and fuel, with trucks stranded at checkpoints/entry points and claims that authorities restricted or blocked essentials to pressure the movement. Shops and markets have been shuttered amid strikes and looted by the people from Army, Rangers and FC. People covered their faces and breaking people vehicles. Local record by using their phones while these people were committing crimes covering their faces and they realised their action been recorded they run and take the shelter of the Pakistani forces in uniforms.
The eye witness noted tjat the forces looting shops (including gold/food) or homes also exist in activist statements and some local reports; there are also specific allegations around a petrol pump incident involving Rangers.
Overseas protests and PTI link
Kashmiri diaspora groups (often coordinated with or supportive of JAAC) have organized large protests abroad, including notable ones in London condemning the crackdown, arrests (hundreds claimed), and calling for international attention/probes. PTI has publicly stood with Azad Kashmir protesters, condemned excessive force, noted high martyr figures, boycotted the AJK sham elections, and linked broader criticism of the Pakistani establishment. Overseas PTI activities focus heavily on Imran Khan’s detention/medical access and democracy demands, with some events showing solidarity imagery or joint messaging with Kashmiri causes.
The on ground eye witness accounts some by holding holy Quran on their heads which is an under oath, said that Pakistani forces fired directly on the people's head who were unarmed and peaceful.
The humanitarian dimension from supply issues; Pakistani authorities as usual lies but if they are not committing crimes why don't they open internet and allow foreign media to go and check by themselves.
Pakistan own claims that it is facing high militancy in Baluchistan and KPK yet it never shut down internet in those provinces and never bar foreign press visiting those provinces. Why in AJK where people were out on the streets peacefully? What was the reason for internet shutdown if Pakistan as a state have no intention to commit crimes against the innocent people of AJK because the peaceful protest started in early June 2026 and immediately government action was to shutdown internet and fired upon sit in protest. If this was not as political tool to terrorise the participants after killing innocent people then what elee was the purpose?
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