Why are the residents of Pakistan-administered Kashmir out on the streets and what are their demands?
By: Abid Hussain
Islamabad, Pakistan — Protesters in Pakistan-administered Kashmir have called for shutdowns and the declaration of a “black day” on Tuesday after blaming paramilitary forces for killing three young men and injuring several others on Monday evening.
A protest convoy, led by a group called the Jammu Kashmir Joint Awami Action Committee (JAAC), has been marching towards Muzaffarabad since May 11, the capital of the autonomous region bordering India, over demands including subsidised flour and electricity. However, on Monday evening, Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif approved a 23 billion rupee ($82m) subsidy programme, drastically reducing the price of wheat and flour.
Shaukat Nawaz Mir, the chairman of the JAAC, said the group had planned to turn their protest in to a celebration after the government’s decision to meet their demands, but will now protest against the killings.
“Our protesters were completely peaceful but the government’s decision to call in rangers meant that they wanted to use force against us, and now we see that three people were killed,” he told Al Jazeera.
The regional government also issued a notification ordering the closure of government offices and all educational institutions in the region. The protests, which started over the weekend, also saw the partial suspension of mobile internet services as well in some regions.Interactive_PakistanAdministeredKashmirProtests_May142024
Pakistani government officials have hinted, on social media, at “enemy propaganda” fanning the tensions — an apparent allusion to India, with which Pakistan has fought three wars over Kashmir. But officially, Islamabad has not blamed India for the crisis it faces in Pakistan-administered Kashmir just yet.
On Sunday, Sharif expressed “deep concerns” over the situation, saying that while protest is a democratic right, no one should take the law into their own hands.
“Unfortunately, in situations of chaos and dissent, there are always some who rush in to score political points. While debate, discussion and peaceful protests are the beauties of democracy, there should be absolutely no tolerance for taking the law in one’s own hands and damaging government properties,” he wrote in a message on social media platform X (formerly known as Twitter).
Here is a look at what the protesters have been demanding and how the government has responded so far.
What are the protests about?
The Kashmir valley is the picturesque, but contentious Himalayan region over which Pakistan and India have fought multiple wars since gaining independence from British rule in 1947. The region is claimed in full by both, but each governs parts of it.
With a population of more than four million, Pakistan-administered Kashmir, locally known as Azad Jammu Kashmir, has a semiautonomous government with its own prime minister.
According to Imtiaz Aslam, a senior leader of the 31-member JAAC which includes labour leaders, traders, transporters and other civil society members in Pakistan-administered Kashmir, their demands go back a year to May 2023. “Our movement began last year when there was a massive wheat crisis leading to increased prices of flour, and after that there was a major increase in electricity rates, following which we began our protests and made demands to reduce the prices,” he told Al Jazeera.
Aslam, who was speaking from the region’s Bagh district while leading a convoy of hundreds of people to the regional capital, Muzaffarabad, roughly 75km (46 miles) north, said the protesters were also urging the government to rein in spending on officials. The protesters allege that slashing the bureaucracy of Pakistan-administered Kashmir could ensure it has more resources to spend on the public.“’Civil society people are protesting all over the world. The problem here is that as soon as you make any demands, you are accused of being an agent and silenced,” he said. Source:aljazeera.com/
Wednesday, April 29, 2026
