At least four policemen were killed and 20 were injured after fierce clashes broke out with supporters of the newly proscribed Joint Awami Action Committee (JAAC) in Rawlakot, police said on Sunday. POJK police chief Liaqat Ali Malik has said that four police personnel were killed when demonstrators “attacked” Combined Military Hospital (CMH) on Sunday.
Malik claimed the policemen were shot by firearms and shotguns, terming it outright “terrorism” and vowing not to compromise on the safety of citizens and public peace. Some officials said that at least two persons from among the protesters had also lost their lives, while dozens were injured. Locals said the toll could be much higher as the flow of information has been impacted due to closure of mobile data services across the region.
According to some reports, hundreds of people, deemed to be supporters of JAAC, have been arrested by the police and other security forces over the last three days in a bid to thwart the June 9 protests all over POJK. At a number of places, the Army fired upon the demonstrators though no reports regarding casualties are available right now.
Tensions flared in Rawalakot over the death of a trader shot by the Pakistan Army during a confrontation on Friday night. Initially, his family had announced his funeral would be held on Saturday, but they later changed their mind and brought the body back to the CMH for post mortem, and deferred the funeral until Sunday.
The body was shifted to the hospital’s mortuary but a post mortem was not conducted. As the news spread, dozens of JAAC supporters started gathering near CMH. According to witnesses, when a police party arrived to disperse the protesters, a charged group of demonstrators confronted them. Riot police then resorted to baton charge and lobbed tear gas shells to disperse the group.
Trader’s Family Refuses to Bury Their Son
The family of the deceased man, meanwhile, declared they would not bury him until the home department notification, proscribing the JAAC, was withdrawn. “Our son faces the allegation of being a terrorist. We will not bury [him] until the notification branding [JAAC] as a terrorist group is withdrawn,” a source quoted a member of his family as saying, according to a Dawn report.
It needs to be mentioned here that the JAAC was proscribed under law by the POJK government on Friday, effectively declaring its members as terrorists. This has angered the JAAC and its supporters have declared that banning it will not deter them from large scale protests on June 9 (Tuesday) as per their original plans.
A senior administration official claimed the sit-in outside the health facility was causing a great deal of inconvenience to patients, their families and other commuters. He said that the protesters had been asked to disperse peacefully, but to no avail.
Refugee Seats Turning into Dirty Dozen
Meanwhile, in its advisory opinion on a reference sent by POJK President Chaudhry Latif Akbar, the POJK Supreme Court has observed that any amendment in the region’s constitution was “not a concession to be wrested” from the government. The reference dealt with the JAAC’s demand for the abolition of 12 refugee seats in the legislative assembly ahead of the July 27 elections.
These 12 seats are reserved for refugees from Jammu and Kashmir who settled in mainland Pakistan after 1947. JAAC alleges that these seats were often used by mainstream Pakistani political parties to influence the formation of governments in Muzaffarabad.
The presidential reference had sought answers to five key questions over the constitutional status of the refugee seats. These related to the legislature’s competence to introduce a fundamental constitutional amendment at the present stage, the constitutional limits of the rights of assembly and association, and the state’s obligation to protect the electoral process and reject extra-constitutional demands.
In the advisory opinion, dated June 6, the court held that the constitution was the “supreme law”. The court declared: “The amendment of the constitution is a solemn constitutional act, not a concession to be wrested from a government under duress.”
Besides the abolition of these seats, the JAAC has also been calling for economic reforms to lower electricity prices and provide free healthcare in the state. The high rates of electricity, often sold to consumers at a cost of Rs 40 per unit or more, is a major point of discord. The JAAC has said that the cost of electricity produced in POJK is barely Rs 2.50 per unit and selling it at a price several times that of production cost amounts to looting the consumers officially.
JAAC a Terrorist Organisation Officially
Earlier, in a fast-changing scenario, the POJK on Friday (June 6) banned the JAAC accusing it of involvement in terrorism, promoting hatred and creating anarchy in the state. This was done after the JAAC refused to take back its call for a major protest strike throughout POJK on June 9. The organisation has previously spearheaded protests demanding economic relief and political rights, with some demonstrations ending in violence during May 2024 and September 2025.
A notification said the government had “reasonable grounds to believe that Jammu Kashmir Joint Awami Action Committee (JK-JAAC) also known by names Joint Awami Action Committee (JAAC) and Awami Action Committee (AAC) is engaged in terrorism, acted in a manner prejudicial to the peace & security of the State, involved in creating anarchy in the State by intimidating public, promoting hatred & creating sense of insecurity in society and public at large etc”. Hence, the JAAC was being declared as a proscribed organisation under Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA), it added.
Responding to the move, the JAAC described the ban and its inclusion in the list of proscribed organisations as a “confusion”, saying it had nothing to lose and “the whole world left to gain”.
Meanwhile, reacting to reports of a suspension of mobile phone services in the region, the committee termed the measure “economic murder” of the people of the state.
“The shutdown of mobile and internet services is the economic murder of the people of the state,” the JAAC said in a post on X.
To prevent the JAAC protest, the Federal government moved hundreds of policemen from Islamabad to various parts of POJK.
