Pakistan accused of killing 30 protesters in Kashmir amid blackout
PESHAWAR — A local civil rights group has accused Pakistan’s security services of opening fire on peaceful protesters in Pakistani-administered Kashmir, alle...
PESHAWAR — A local civil rights group has accused Pakistan’s security services of opening fire on peaceful protesters in Pakistani-administered Kashmir, alleging that at least 30 unarmed people were killed over two days as unrest spread through the disputed region.
The allegations raise the stakes sharply for Islamabad. They also point to a widening rights crisis in a heavily militarised area that has been under a severe communications shutdown, with an internet blackout cutting Kashmir off from the rest of Pakistan and mass arrests reported since the protests began in June.
Claims of shootings and a blackout
According to the Joint Awami Action Committee, or JAAC, 25 people were killed on Monday and five more on Tuesday when Pakistani security services fired on tens of thousands of peaceful protesters. The group said authorities also removed evidence of the killings while communications remained cut.
Amnesty International on Tuesday urged Pakistani authorities to lift the communications blackout. The rights group’s intervention added outside pressure as the allegations spread beyond the region.
The latest deaths are part of what JAAC described as a brutal state crackdown that has engulfed Pakistani Kashmir for weeks. The unrest has unfolded with little outside visibility because of the shutdown, which has limited reporting and made it harder to verify events on the ground. Tense. Closed off.
Why protesters took to the streets
JAAC and its supporters had rallied for electoral reform in the disputed territory. Monday marked the first phase of an election that local groups have challenged, arguing that a system of reserved seats for refugees from Indian-administered Kashmir now living across Pakistan distorts representation.
The dispute sits inside a larger political fault line. Kashmir has long been divided between Pakistan and India, and both countries claim it in full. That makes any escalation in the region politically sensitive well beyond its borders, especially when security forces, voting rules and civil liberties collide at once.
For residents, the immediate consequence is grim: movement is constrained, communication is cut and allegations of lethal force are moving through a sealed information space. With the blackout still in place, Amnesty’s call now puts pressure on Pakistan to explain how 30 people were allegedly killed in two days and why the region remains isolated from the outside world.