RAWALAKOT: For nearly six weeks, the roads leading into Rawalakot have told a story that election speeches cannot.
At the main entry points to this hill town, makeshift protest camps still occupy sections of the highways. Tyres, banners and temporary shelters remain in place despite the suspension of the Joint Awami Action Committee's (JAAC) proposed 'Long March to Muzaffarabad'. Many markets have partially reopened after weeks of shutdown, but commercial life remains subdued. Conversations in tea stalls revolve less around election promises than around arrests, negotiations and uncertainty over what comes next.
What began on June 5 as a local confrontation has evolved into one of the most serious political crises to confront Pakistan-administered Jammu and Kashmir (PaJK) in recent years. It has tested the relationship between the government and citizens, raised concerns over the conduct of security operations, disrupted preparations for the July 27 Legislative Assembly elections and exposed deep political divisions across the territory.
The immediate trigger for the unrest was an incident in Khai Gala in Poonch district on June 5. According to the Joint Awami Action Committee, its leader Umar Nazir Kashmiri's convoy came under attack, killing his associate Shahzaib Habib and injuring Kashmiri himself. Authorities have presented differing accounts of the incident, but its aftermath rapidly transformed a local protest into a territory-wide movement.
Within days demonstrations spread from Rawalakot to Bagh, Kotli, Muzaffarabad and several other districts.
On June 9, protesters launched what they described as a long march from Bhimber towards Muzaffarabad. The procession, however, halted near Darek outside Rawalakot, where the principal sit-in continues today. Additional protest camps later emerged along the main highways connecting Rawalakot with Islamabad, Muzaffarabad and Bagh, disrupting transport and commercial traffic across most of the region.
For residents, the prolonged disruption has carried a high economic cost. Traders report steep declines in business, public transport operators complain of heavy financial losses, while educational institutions and routine government services have been repeatedly interrupted.
The protests entered a new phase this week after negotiations between the government and the Joint Awami Action Committee led to the suspension of the proposed long march.
'Long March to Muzaffarabad' Postponed
In a statement, the committee said that after it had written to Pakistan's Army Chief, Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir, Overseas Pakistanis Foundation Chairman Syed Qamar Raza was appointed as his special representative to engage with the protesters. According to the committee, detailed discussions took place on its demands and assurances were given that outstanding issues would be addressed through dialogue rather than confrontation.
Following the talks, the JAAC announced that it was postponing the long march while continuing all existing sit-ins.
"Our case has been placed before the Field Marshal's sense of justice," the committee said in its statement, while making it clear that the protest movement itself had not ended.
The agreement has reduced the immediate possibility of a major confrontation. But it has not resolved the underlying political crisis.
Even the scale of the unrest remains contested.
The Joint Awami Action Committee claims that around 50 people have been killed since June 5 during clashes and security operations, while hundreds more have been injured or detained.
Official figures differ sharply.
According to the Azad Jammu and Kashmir government, more than 425 individuals have been placed under Schedule IV surveillance, over 194 criminal cases have been registered and more than 450 people have been arrested during the ongoing unrest.
An independent human rights documentation group has meanwhile stated that it has verified 34 civilian deaths and is investigating dozens of additional reported fatalities. The organisation has also alleged that security forces carried out widespread detentions and raids, and in some cases withheld bodies from families. These allegations have not been independently verified, and authorities have not publicly responded in detail to each claim.
The conflicting narratives illustrate one of the defining characteristics of the current crisis: almost every major statistic, from casualties to arrests, is disputed.
That uncertainty has become a crisis in itself. It reflects not merely competing political narratives but also the absence of a commonly accepted public account of events during one of the most turbulent periods the region has witnessed in years.
(This news article is being published in three part series. This is Part-I of 'The Crisis Unfolds-I')
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