RAWALAKOT/MUZAFFARABAD: Six weeks since the security crackdown began in Pakistan-administered Jammu and Kashmir (PaJK), a human rights documentation group hints at 50 civilian deaths.
It says it has verified 34 civilian deaths and is investigating dozens more, amid allegations that security forces have withheld bodies from grieving families, raided homes, and detained thousands of people with no public accounting of who is being held or where.
The findings come from the Jammu Kashmir Human Rights Observatory (JKHRO), a documentation group that describes itself as independent and non-partisan, in a 35-page report dated 14 July and titled "Human Rights Situation Report No. 3." It is the group's most detailed account yet of a crisis that has run since early June, when authorities banned the region's largest protest coalition and a fatal shooting outside Rawalakot set off weeks of protest sit-ins, strikes, clashes between security forces and demonstrators and a communication and economic blockade.
The unrest has not abated. On Wednesday, the Jammu Kashmir Joint Awami Action Committee (JKJAAC), proscribed in June, postponed a planned "long march" to Muzaffarabad, after what it described as backchannel assurances reportedly involving Pakistan's army chief, Field Marshal Asim Munir. JKJAAC says the march, which it had cast as a final push before PaJK's July 27 legislative election, will resume on July 22 if the government does not act on its demands.
How the crisis began
The proximate trigger was a court ruling. On June 7, the Supreme Court of PajK held that “twelve assembly seats reserved for refugees from Indian-administered Kashmir who resettled in Pakistan” could not be abolished except by constitutional amendment. This was one of the central demand of JKJAAC, a coalition of traders, lawyers and civil-society activists formed in 2023.
Two days earlier, anticipating unrest, PaJK's government had already designated JKJAAC a "proscribed organisation" under the territory's 2014 anti-terrorism law and cut mobile internet across the region, a shutdown independently confirmed by the monitoring group NetBlocks. Hours later, JKJAAC activist Shahzeb Habib was shot dead near Rawalakot; the circumstances remain disputed, with protesters describing an ambush and police describing a clash with an armed group. His killing, and a funeral gathering days later at Rawalakot's Combined Military Hospital that also turned deadly, hardened the movement's resolve.
Amnesty International called the proscription "disproportionate, unlawful and a violation of the right to freedom of association" within days, and both Amnesty and the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan voiced alarm at the arrests, internet shutdown and use of force that followed, marking the third such crackdown on the movement since 2024, after earlier protests over electricity tariffs and flour prices.
A video of public gathering underway on Thursday, 16 July 2026, at Rawalakot shared on X by @JAAC_Official:
What the JKHRO report documents
JKHRO says field volunteers, local journalists and family interviews have verified 34 civilian deaths since June 5, while community sources cite 50 or more; the group is explicit that neither figure is an official casualty count and that further death certificates, hospital records, burial records and independent investigation are still needed.
It estimates that more than 60,000 people have taken part in sit-ins in and around Rawalakot, that thousands have been arrested with no published detainee list, and that disruption to food, medicine, fuel and transport now affects as many as 3 million people region-wide. Crowd estimates throughout the crisis have varied enormously by source: district officials put one recent Rawalakot gathering at 1,000 to 1,500 people, while JKJAAC said the same crowd exceeded 40,000.
The report catalogues a rapid escalation in its final days. It says five men were shot dead on July 14 when security forces, which JKHRO says included Frontier Corps personnel, opened fire near Rawalakot's Baloch bus terminal. Those killed included Zahid Yaseen Mughal, a candidate for the assembly seat covering Sudhnoti and Poonch. Hours earlier, at a separate sit-in in Mutyalmera, the group says a former footballer, Wajid Hayat, was shot during prayers and later died; and Niqash Zardad, who the group says was killed by Rangers outside the Rawalakot hospital on the night of June 7-8.
The report also describes a July 9 raid on a sit-in at Kotteri that a JKJAAC leader says killed three men, and a July 11 shooting at Jandala Cross that killed one man and critically wounded another.
One case highlighted is that of Mohammed Hasnain Raja, a reported 16–17-year-old from Pagal Chak, Dadyal, who was allegedly killed during the July 5, 2026 incident at Amb, Tehsil Dadyal. According to information received by JKHRO, he died during alleged firing while protests were taking place.
The report notes that his age raises particular child-protection concerns and calls for an independent criminal investigation, supported by family statements, medical records, witness testimony and other documentary evidence to establish the circumstances of his death.
Another case concerns Wajid Hayat of Mutyalmera, Rawalakot, who was reportedly shot during a security-force operation while he was offering his prayers July 14, 2026 and later died from his injuries. The report states that he was the brother-in-law of Niqash (Naqash) Zardad, another individual whose reported death had previously been documented, presenting the family's experience as an example of repeated loss during the crisis.
It argues that, if confirmed, the circumstances raise concerns relating to the protection of peaceful assembly, the right to life, respect for religious practice, medical access and accountability, while recommending further verification through family statements, hospital records and independent investigation.
The report also documents the case of Usman Sabir, who, according to a family interview cited by JKHRO, had returned from Saudi Arabia and was reportedly killed after attending a funeral prayer in Rawalakot on 7 June 2026. The report describes his family's account that his body was not immediately released, leaving behind a blind mother and a two-year-old son.
It identifies this case as raising concerns about the right to life, the treatment of bereaved families, the dignity of the dead and the wider humanitarian impact on dependents, while calling for independent verification through official records, witness testimony and family documentation.
Children Join Sit-Ins and Bodies not Returned
The report documents allegations of civilian deaths during protests and security operations, emphasising that many cases still require independent verification through family testimony, hospital records, death certificates and other documentary evidence. Alongside the reported fatalities, the report highlights broader concerns about the use of force, medical access, accountability and the protection of peaceful assembly.
One of the more striking scenes in JKHRO's account came on July 13, when the group says thousands of schoolchildren in uniform, carrying their books, joined the Rawalakot sit-in with placards reading "We want peace" and "I want to study." Independent reporting has not separately confirmed the scale of that gathering, but it fits a broader pattern local and diaspora media have described of women, children and the elderly joining sit-ins across the region in recent weeks.
Much of the report is devoted to allegations that bodies of the dead have been withheld from families. It describes Fahad Barkat, 26, who JKHRO says was shot outside the Rawalakot hospital gate on June 6 while on his way to donate blood, and whose relatives say authorities offered to release his body only if the family signed a statement branding him a "terrorist", an offer they refused.
Usman Sabir’s blind mother was also not allowed near her son's body.
The report also documents allegations of night raids on activists' homes in Sehensa and Muzaffarabad, the sealing of two shops in Hattian Bala owned by a local organiser, video the group says shows cash taken at gunpoint at a petrol station, the arrest of a 17-year-old alongside an older brother, and the case of a Rawalakot social-media activist reported missing in Saudi Arabia since 24 June.
JKHRO has flagged some of these as allegations requiring independent verification, not established fact.
International reaction
The crisis has drawn sustained outside attention, especially in Britain, home to more than a million people with family ties to PaJK, officially called ‘Azad Jammu and Kashmir’.. More than 50 UK prominent UK politicians and parliamentarians, including Jeremy Corbyn, Diane Abbott and Naz Shah, wrote to the Foreign Secretary in early June over the communications blackout and reports that British nationals were among those arrested, prompting Pakistan's Foreign Office to reject what it called "irresponsible and ill-informed" interference in its internal affairs.
Thousands of people rallied outside the Pakistan High Commission in London on July 5, the same day JKHRO documents two fatal shootings of protesters in Dadyal. Smaller diaspora protests were also reported outside the White House in Washington and in Auckland, New Zealand.
JKHRO's has appealed to the UN, the UK government, the US Congress and international rights bodies for intervention. None of which had issued a public response specific to this report as of Thursday.
JKHRO’s Appeal
The report calls on the Pakistan and PaJK authorities to take immediate steps to de-escalate the situation, prioritising the protection of civilians and transparency. Its principal recommendations include an immediate end to the use of force, raids, intimidation and collective punishment against peaceful protesters and civilians; the publication of verified lists of those killed, injured, arrested, detained and missing; and independent investigations into the reported killings, injuries and crackdowns in Dadyal, Kotteri, Mutyalmera and Baloch Bus Stand.
It also urges authorities to release withheld bodies without conditions, allow families to conduct funeral rites, confirm the whereabouts of detainees, protect witnesses and preserve evidence such as CCTV footage, hospital records and custody logs.
To strengthen accountability, the report recommends establishing an independent commission of inquiry with the authority to investigate alleged deaths, injuries, detentions, disappearances, body withholding, property damage and humanitarian obstruction.
It further calls for publication of casualty and detention records, independent forensic review of medical and physical evidence, judicial and parliamentary oversight, protection for victims, witnesses, journalists and human rights defenders, and access to remedies including medical rehabilitation, psychosocial support and compensation where responsibility is established.
The report also argues that international engagement is urgently needed because of the reported risk of further civilian deaths, worsening humanitarian conditions, lack of meaningful dialogue and limited independent access to affected areas. It warns that delays could result in the loss of evidence and deepen long-term social and psychological harm, while also affecting diaspora communities and overseas families.
Accordingly, the report recommends that the UN, OHCHR, international human rights organisations, humanitarian agencies, foreign governments and diplomatic actors press for independent investigations, humanitarian access, protection of civilians and technical assistance for evidence preservation.
It also advocates international monitoring, forensic expertise, support for accountability mechanisms and continued engagement to encourage dialogue and safeguard the rights of affected communities.
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