Bloodshed In PoK: Pakistani Forces Open Fire On Unarmed Protesters As Unrest Erupts | Exclusive Details

Last Updated:June 11, 2026, 18:15 IST

The demonstrators had assembled under the banner of the Joint Awami Action Committee (JAAC), a prominent grassroots alliance that was abruptly outlawed by the state administration

Pakistan security forces have opened live ammunition fire on unarmed demonstrators in the Rawalakot region of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK), sparking a fresh wave of severe unrest across the heavily militarised territory, CNN-News18 has learnt. The deadly confrontation erupted in the early hours of the morning, immediately following Fajr prayers, when paramilitary forces and police unleashed straight firing and heavy tear gas shelling on thousands of civil rights activists. The demonstrators had assembled under the banner of the Joint Awami Action Committee (JAAC), a prominent grassroots alliance that was abruptly outlawed by the state administration under anti-terrorism legislation.

The immediate aftermath of the assault has plunged the regional healthcare system into a state of acute emergency. Speaking frantically to media networks from local hospital beds, injured survivors documented the sheer brutality of the early morning crackdown. Witnesses confirmed that at least one demonstrator was killed instantly on the site of the protest due to direct gunshot wounds, while dozens of others remain in critical condition with severe bullet and shrapnel injuries. Despite the overwhelming deployment of state force, wounded activists inside the medical facilities have issued defiant statements, vowing that local residents will fight for their fundamental constitutional rights and remain standing until the absolute last breath.

Disproportionate Force and Economic Grievances

Top Indian intelligence sources tracking the developing crisis have confirmed that the military establishment, under the direct command of Army Chief General Asim Munir, has deployed highly disproportionate and brute force to systematically crush the civilian population. Strategic analysts note that the violent clampdown is an aggressive attempt to silence deep-rooted, structural grievances regarding failing economic governance, skyrocketing inflation, and severe shortages of basic commodities like wheat flour and electricity. Rather than addressing these legitimate socioeconomic anxieties, Islamabad chose to completely proscribe the JAAC, a move that intelligence assessments warn risks igniting wider, uncontrollable civil unrest across the entirety of Pakistan.

The crisis has deepened further due to the heavy-handed political manipulation of the region’s legislative structure. Local populations have been actively demonstrating against a controversial state mandate reserving 12 non-resident assembly seats for individuals living outside Kashmir in mainland Pakistan—a mechanism long utilised by the central establishment to install captive administrations and dilute local representation. Security experts emphasise that Pakistan’s ruling elite continues to display a fundamental inability to comprehend the genuine grievances of the local Kashmiri populace. By treating a peaceful civil rights movement as a counter-terrorism operation and imposing external security assets on the native population, the state apparatus has effectively turned PoK into an administrative powder keg.

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Manoj Gupta

Group Editor, Investigations & Security Affairs, Network18

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