At least 24 killed in Pakistani Kashmir protests as roads closed, shops shut and internet turned off
Clashes between demonstrators and police has seen many wounded and hundreds arrested. The government responded by shutting main roads, blocking the internet and restricting media access.
Friday 19 June 2026 11:12, UK
Image:Men ride on a motorbike along a deserted market in Muzaffarabad. Pic: Reuters
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At least 24 people in Pakistan-administered Kashmir have been killed in nearly two weeks of protests that have sparked a territory-wide shutdown.
The unrest began ahead of a strike called to protest the reservation of 12 seats for refugees in the upcoming elections for the region's 45-seat legislative assembly.
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The refugee seats are kept for people displaced from Indian-administered
Kashmir.
Protests grew in the days before the shutdown on 9 June with government officials saying that at least 20 civilians were killed between 6 June and 14 June. Dozens more were wounded, they added.
The regional police chief said four officers have been killed in clashes with protesters and 97 wounded, while 515 people had been detained.
The strike was organised by the recently banned Joint Awami Action Committee (JAAC) and thousands of the group's supporters are now camped on the outskirts of Rawalakot, about 62 miles (100km) south of the regional capital Muzaffarabad.
The government has responded by shutting main roads, blocking the internet and restricting media access to much of Kashmir.
In Muzaffarabad, areas that are usually filled with grocers and food stalls have been silent, with labourers sitting idle and waiting for work that has not come.
Bank notices blame the government's suspension of internet and satellite services for the closure of ATMs and banking operations, while petrol stations are shut due to an official order.
Image:A man walks past a closed petrol station in Muzaffarabad. Pic: Reuters
Medical stores and some grocers have begun opening for limited hours and fruit and vegetable sellers have started to return, but other businesses remain closed.
Workers have found the latest crisis difficult to deal with. Motorcycle taxi driver, Asif Naz, said: "Those with resources may sustain it, but for blue-collar workers like us, it is self-slaughter."
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The refugee seats are contested by candidates who do not live in Kashmir, but elsewhere in
Pakistan, and the JAAC argues they give disproportionate influence to people living outside the territory.
The Himalayan region of Kashmir is divided between Pakistan and India, who both claim it in its entirety and have fought two wars over the territory since gaining independence from British rule in 1947.
