Daily life has ground to a halt across Pakistan-administered Kashmir following weeks of deadly unrest, which has claimed at least 24 lives and plunged the region into its most severe crisis in years.
The confrontation between local authorities and the recently proscribed Joint Awami Action Committee, or JAAC, presents a delicate challenge for Islamabad.
Pakistan, which often criticises Delhi’s handling of dissent in Indian-administered Kashmir, now faces significant anger within its own administered territory.
The protests erupted ahead of a 9 June strike called by the JAAC, opposing the allocation of 12 seats for refugees in the 27 July election to the region’s 45-seat legislative assembly. These refugees were displaced from Indian-administered Kashmir.
The unrest escalated rapidly, with officials reporting at least 20 civilian deaths between 6 and 14 June, alongside dozens wounded. Regional police chief Liaqat Ali Malik confirmed four officers killed and 97 injured in clashes, leading to 515 arrests.
Thousands of JAAC supporters are now encamped on Rawalakot’s outskirts, 100 km south of the regional capital Muzaffarabad.
In response, authorities have shut main roads, imposed an internet blackout and restricted media access across much of Kashmir.
The economic fallout is stark. In Muzaffarabad’s Upper Adda commercial district, menial labourers sit idle, their work non-existent.
“Since June 9, I have not earned a single rupee,” day labourer Ikhlaq Ahmed, 27, lamented.
The usually vibrant Upper Adda is now largely silent.
Medical stores and some grocers have cautiously reopened for limited hours, fruit and vegetable sellers have returned, but most other businesses have stayed shuttered.
Bank notices attribute ATM and banking closures to the government’s internet and satellite service suspension while petrol stations are also shut.
For blue-collar workers like motorcycle taxi driver Asif Naz, the situation is dire. “Those with resources may sustain it,” he said, “but for blue-collar workers like us, it is self-slaughter.”
