ISLAMABAD: Seven people, including four law enforcement personnel and three protesters, have been killed in escalating clashes in Azad Kashmir, authorities said on Monday, as a political dispute over reserved legislative seats deepens weeks before regional elections.
The violence erupted in Rawalakot, a city in the Poonch district of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK), where authorities accused members of the recently banned Joint Awami Action Committee (JAAC) of attacking security personnel and laying siege to a military-run hospital. JAAC denied the allegations and said security forces had opened fire on peaceful protesters.
The unrest marks the most serious escalation yet in a months-long confrontation between the AJK government and JAAC, a protest movement that has campaigned on economic and governance issues in the past but has recently focused on a demand to abolish 12 seats in the regional assembly reserved for refugees from Indian-administered Kashmir who settled in Pakistan after 1947.
The dispute comes ahead of legislative elections scheduled for July 27 in the mountainous region, which lies within the broader Kashmir territory claimed in full by both India and Pakistan but administered in parts by each.
“Since June 6, four law enforcement officials have been martyred in the firing by violent elements,” Azad Kashmir police said in a statement.
Police said three Rawalakot police personnel and one member of the paramilitary Frontier Constabulary were killed, while several others were injured.
Authorities accused JAAC members of opening fire on law enforcers in a “planned manner,” laying siege to the Combined Military Hospital (CMH) in Rawalakot and damaging public and private property.
Police said a “targeted, limited operation” was launched on Sunday night to clear the hospital and restore medical services.
“During this time, three members of the Prohibited Action Committee lost their lives due to their own indiscriminate firing, while several others were injured,” the statement said. “The three deceased include those killed on the night of June 5/6.”
JAAC rejected the official account.
In a message issued on Sunday night, senior JAAC leader Sardar Umer Nazir said security forces had opened fire on participants in what he described as a peaceful sit-in and denied that protesters had attacked the military hospital.
“We have resolved that we will not retreat from our demands under any circumstances,” he said.
The latest violence follows the AJK government’s decision on June 5 to declare JAAC a proscribed organization under the AJK Anti-Terrorism Act, 2014. Police said over the weekend that 72 people linked to the group had been arrested during a security crackdown.
JAAC has called for protests across AJK on June 9 after talks with Pakistan’s federal government failed to resolve the dispute over the refugee seats.
The group argues that the reserved seats allow Pakistan’s mainstream political parties to influence government formation in AJK and has demanded their immediate abolition.
JAAC’s campaign suffered a setback on Sunday when the AJK Supreme Court ruled that the seats enjoy constitutional protection and cannot be abolished through executive or administrative action.
The AJK government welcomed the ruling, saying it established a clear constitutional framework and confirmed that amendments to the region’s governing structure could not be made under political pressure.
The decision is expected to further shape the confrontation between authorities and JAAC as the region moves toward elections next month.
