At least 30 people have been killed over two days of violence in a region called Pakistan-administered Kashmir, according to a protest group called the Joint Awami Action Committee (JAAC). The group says Pakistani security forces shot at unarmed protesters in the city of Mirpur on July 28, 2026, after already killing 25 people the day before. The violence happened during the first round of a three-stage local election that many in the region say is unfair. At the same time, the government shut down internet and phone service, cutting the area off from the rest of the world.

The Guardian, which first reported the story, could not confirm the death toll on its own because journalists were blocked from entering the area and internet service stayed down. Pakistani news outlets mostly did not cover the protests or the reported killings.

Why are people protesting?

The JAAC, also called the AJK Rights Movement, started calling for peaceful protests in September 2025. The group wants more political and economic rights, changes to how elections are run, and an end to a system where 12 seats in the local lawmaking body are set aside for refugees who came from the Indian-controlled side of Kashmir. The JAAC says those reserved seats unfairly distort who gets represented. The Associated Press reported that the latest round of violence started after the local Supreme Court made a ruling about those 12 seats.

Kashmir is a region that both India and Pakistan claim as their own. It has been divided for decades by a ceasefire line called the Line of Control, with Pakistan governing one side and India governing the other. Both countries have fought wars over it.

A year of growing violence

The recent killings follow a full year of increasing unrest. In October 2025, at least eight people were killed in four days of protests, according to Reuters. Earlier protests over the cost of food and electricity had already left four dead and over 100 injured, the AP reported. In June 2026, things got much worse. Reuters recorded 11 killed in the town of Rawalakot on June 8, with more than 70 injured. By June 18, the death toll had passed 20. On July 14, Reuters reported nine more deaths. Since June, an estimated 40 people have died in total, according to The Guardian.

How the government responded

The local government cracked down hard. It banned the JAAC, labeled it a terrorist organization, and arrested large numbers of its members. On July 27, a government "clearance" operation led to direct clashes between protesters and police. Dawn, a Pakistani newspaper, reported that another opposition group called Ayeen-i-Pakistan was blocked from traveling into the region and held a sit-in lasting nearly two hours in response. Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, a major political figure in Pakistan, publicly called for the protests to end on June 14, saying they were hurting Pakistan's image abroad.

A JAAC spokesperson named SA Khan said security forces fired on unarmed protesters in Mirpur on July 28 and then tried to hide the evidence. Khan said forces removed dead bodies from the streets and locked up the local hospital. He said the group has photos and videos showing bodies lying in the streets. A Mirpur resident who spoke to The Guardian anonymously confirmed parts of this account, saying violence broke out when people gathered to protest the previous day's killings. The resident said bodies were taken to the hospital and then went missing, and that shops closed after the violence.

What the world is saying

Amnesty International, a global human rights organization, said disturbing reports were coming out of Rawalakot that suggested a government crackdown. The group called on Pakistan to immediately restore internet and phone service. The United Nations' top human rights official, Volker Türk, called for an investigation into the killings.

Pakistani officials denied that security forces killed civilians. Information minister Atta Tarar claimed at a press conference that the protests were being funded and directed by India. Khan rejected that claim completely. Blaming the other side is a common pattern in Kashmir, where both India and Pakistan frequently say that unrest on their side of the border is secretly organized by the other country's spies.

The election and the bigger picture

The election is happening in three rounds, with the first on July 27. Al Jazeera reported that voting opened amid violence. The JAAC had called for a total shutdown and widespread sit-in protests, and it questions whether the election is legitimate at all.

The broader context here is a region where the tools that normally keep governments accountable have been taken apart one by one. The internet blackout makes it impossible for outside observers to verify what is happening. Pakistani media have mostly stayed silent, whether by choice or under pressure. And the main protest movement has been legally relabeled as a terrorist group. That means almost everything we know comes from people who are directly involved in the conflict, each with their own side to present. The UN's call for an investigation and Amnesty's demand to restore communications are the main forms of international pressure right now. Whether either will lead to independent observers being allowed in depends on whether Pakistan's elected civilian government can act on its own, without following the wishes of the country's powerful military. That is a question Pakistan's history does not answer with much confidence.

What makes this moment different from the scattered unrest of the past year is that three things are happening at the same time: a disputed election, a protest movement that has survived being banned and seeing its members arrested in large numbers, and a security response that has escalated from crowd control to alleged shootings of unarmed civilians in the streets. The next two rounds of voting are still scheduled. They will show whether the election process can address the grievances driving the protests, or whether the cycle of crackdown and resistance will only get worse.