Mortal clashes Tensions between protesters and security forces in Pakistan-administered Kashmir this month highlighted widespread public discontent in the territory and highlighted Islamabad’s continued overreach into the territory. The violent crackdown by the Pakistani state following popular demands for governance reform in the semi-autonomous region has killed at least 15 people, creating a political crisis in Islamabad and prompting the international community to conviction. On the eve of the legislative elections scheduled for the end of July, the unrest in Pakistani-administered Kashmir constitutes a significant domestic challenge for the Pakistani government, which cannot count on any diplomatic effort. activism or efforts to position oneself as a peacemaker can hide.
On June 5, the election commission in Pakistan-administered Kashmir announcement that legislative elections would take place on July 27, the first such elections in the territory since 2021. On the same day, the region’s Interior Ministry proscribed the Joint Awami Action Committee (JAAC), alleging that he was “engaged in terrorism”.
The timing of these simultaneous announcements is unlikely to be a coincidence. Anticipating unrest around the July elections, the local government, almost certainly acting under instructions from Islamabad and specifically Pakistan’s military establishment, moved quickly to restrict the public’s ability to organize, targeting the region’s most influential protest movement. The JAAC, a coward coalition made up of lawyers, traders, transporters and civil society activists, had already mobilized large-scale protests across Pakistan-administered Kashmir, including a major protest campaign in September 2025.
The problem at the heart of this month’s mess dates back to the events of that month. At the time, the JAAC presented The government of Pakistan-administered Kashmir presented a 38-point charter of demands, which included the removal of 12 seats in the Legislative Assembly reserved for migrants from Indian-administered Kashmir. The government’s refusal to consider the proposal sparked the JAAC-led movement demonstrationswhich provoked a muscular response from the authorities. At least one protester was killed and dozens injured amid an internet and communications outage. This dispute has remained unresolved since and the announcement of the legislative elections for July 27 has brought the question of these reserved seats back to the forefront of the political scene. For the JAAC, there is a clear urgency to secure reforms before voters go to the polls, with the aim of ensuring that the next assembly constitutes a more representative body of legislators.
Elections for these 12 seats, which represent just over a quarter of the total membership of the Legislative Assembly in Pakistan-administered Kashmir, are taking place outside the geographical boundaries of the territory itself. Eight are allocated to Kashmiris residing in Punjab, while the remaining four are spread across Sindh, Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. As a result, voters who have no direct stake in the outcome of local elections play an important role in determining the composition of the government in Pakistan-administered Kashmir.
For the JAAC and its supporters, this amounts to “electoral engineering” and a distortion of the will of local voters. These concerns are reinforced by long-standing experience allegations of electoral fraud and electoral interference around these reserved seats, which tend to resemble the ruling party in Islamabad. Consequently, political control in Pakistan-administered Kashmir often mirrors the political landscape at the federal level, largely through the influence of these reserved seats. This arrangement has helped successive governments in Islamabad maintain some political control over the territory and curb the influence of secessionist and independence parties. movements.
It is therefore not surprising that the JAAC responded to its ban, the announcement of elections to the Legislative Assembly and the Supreme Court’s decision in Pakistan-administered Kashmir to maintain the 12 places reserved by call a “traffic jam strike” for June 9.
The issue of reserved seats, however, is just one of many grievances underlying the current unrest. Economic difficulties were also a major factor driver of protests over the past two years, with the JAAC repeatedly exploiting public frustration with the rising cost of living. Electricity prices are a particularly sensitive issue, given the region’s vast hydroelectric resources and vast perception that local communities have not benefited proportionately from the resources they provide.
For many in Pakistani-administered Kashmir, the social contract is fraying and revealing the limits of Islamabad’s influence over the territory. Overt election interference was compounded by sharp increases in the price of fuel and wheat and contributed to the perception that continued subordination to the federal government brought little benefit to residents. This amplified discontent and created a major challenge to the existing political order.
The central government’s reluctance to give ground on the issue of 12 reserved seats reflects its determination to maintain its political influence over Pakistan-administered Kashmir. In recent years, Pakistan has faced significant internal security challenges challengesincluding persistent secessionist movements and militant violence, particularly in Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Further unrest and challenges to Islamabad’s authority in Pakistan-administered Kashmir are therefore not welcome in this broader and increasingly militant security environment.
It is precisely because Islamabad views mass mobilization and popular activism in Pakistan-administered Kashmir through a militarized lens that it is so willing to invoke anti-terrorism legislation against what is, at its core, a civil society movement. Alongside mass and arbitrary arrests following the JAAC ban, Pakistani authorities have once again imposed internet and communications blackouts, worsening the situation. shortages of food and medicine and drawn critical human rights organizations.
The protests also drew international condemnation, particularly among the diaspora in Pakistan-administered Kashmir. In the United Kingdom, thousands of demonstrators took to the streets of London to voice their opposition to the actions of Pakistani security forces.
Due to the large ethnic Mirpuri population in Britain, many of whom trace their family roots to Mirpur, Kotli, Bhimber and surrounding districts, the unrest has become a point of political contention. Communities in Bradford, Birmingham, Luton, Oldham, Rochdale and parts of London have close family ties to the area, generating pressure on MPs to raise the issue at Westminster.
As a result, in Parliament, an early motion was filed by 45 MPs calling on the British government to express “grave concern” over reports of repression by the Pakistani state against residents of Pakistan-administered Kashmir. Unsurprisingly, the Pakistani government has rejected this criticism and urged British MPs to avoid supporting banned organisations. Nonetheless, Islamabad must tread carefully to avoid allowing the issue of Pakistan-administered Kashmir to be linked to broader international movements protesting state repression and human rights abuses, which have mobilized diaspora communities and their supporters in capitals around the world.
Back in Pakistan, Islamabad justified its decision to keep the 12 reserved seats on legal grounds. previousarguing that, as they are enshrined in the Constitution, only the Legislative Assembly itself has the power to amend them. Therefore, any changes must wait until after the elections, when the newly elected representative can consider the proposed reforms. Yet if the current arrangement remains the same, significant reform is unlikely, with the reserved seats likely to meet the expectations of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League in Pakistan-administered Kashmir. There is no doubt that this is the desired outcome in Islamabad. Once the newly elected assembly determines, under considerable pressure from the federal government, that no such amendments will be introduced, officials will hope that this issue can finally be settled.
However, such an assumption is both myopic and erroneous. As residents of Pakistan-administered Kashmir continue to struggle with rising prices of essential goods, grievances over political representation will remain a powerful means of mobilizing opposition against the state. Regardless of its new terrorism designation, the JAAC and similar groups will likely continue to seek ways to challenge the status quo that Islamabad is determined to preserve. Therefore, both in the run-up to the elections and beyond, the issue of the 12 reserved seats will remain a significant source of tension between Pakistan-administered Kashmir and Islamabad.