PoK Protests: The History and Present of Unrest in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir

Why in News?

A fresh wave of protests has gripped Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK). On 8 June 2026, clashes between police and demonstrators in Rawalakot, in the so-called Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) region, left at least 11 dead and more than 70 injured ahead of a major rally called for 10 June by the Joint Awami Action Committee (JAAC).

• The JAAC is a civic platform of traders, lawyers, transporters and students.
• Authorities suspended internet services, deployed federal paramilitary troops and issued travel advisories.
• The protest body was proscribed under the Anti-Terrorism Act of 2014 — recasting an economic-rights movement as a security threat.
• The flare-up came weeks before regional assembly elections set for 27 July 2026, sharpening the political stakes.
• Rawalakot lies in the Poonch division of PoK.

The development matters in the context of:

• The constitutional limbo of AJK and Gilgit-Baltistan and how an occupying power governs a contested region.
• India’s standing claim under the 22 February 1994 unanimous parliamentary resolution.
• The Ministry of External Affairs framing the region’s distress as a product of Pakistan’s plunder of local resources — turning a domestic Pakistani crisis into a point of Indian diplomatic advocacy.

UPSC Relevance

Prelims Relevance

• The Instrument of Accession of Jammu and Kashmir to India was signed by Maharaja Hari Singh on 26 October 1947.
• The 1947 invasion that triggered accession came from tribal militias of Pakistan’s North-West Frontier, beginning around 22 October 1947.
• Pakistan administers its occupied territory in two units: so-called Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) and Gilgit-Baltistan.
• The AJK legislative assembly has 45 directly contested seats; 12 are reserved for refugees from Indian-administered Kashmir.
• On 22 February 1994, both Houses of Parliament unanimously passed a resolution claiming all of J&K, Gilgit and Baltistan as integral to India, and demanded Pakistan vacate the occupied areas.
• Gilgit-Baltistan received a limited self-governance order in 2009 (further empowerment in 2018) but still has no seats in Pakistan’s National Assembly.
• The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor passes through Gilgit-Baltistan, which borders China and the Karakoram range.
• The JAAC led both the May 2024 and June 2026 protests in PoK.
• In May 2024, Pakistan approved a PKR 23 billion subsidy package to defuse PoK protests over wheat and electricity prices.
• The ceasefire line of 1947-48 was renamed the Line of Control under the 1972 Simla Agreement, which commits both countries to settle disputes bilaterally and peacefully.

Mains Relevance

GS Paper 2 (International Relations):

• A live case study in India-Pakistan relations and the unresolved status of the former princely state of Jammu and Kashmir.
• Gilgit-Baltistan’s strategic location tying the Kashmir dispute to the India-China-Pakistan triangle through CPEC. See our India-Pakistan relations note.
• India’s legal claim and diplomatic advocacy under the 1994 resolution and the Simla Agreement.

GS Paper 2 (Polity / Governance abroad):

• AJK’s hollow autonomy and Gilgit-Baltistan’s denial of representation as a model of how an occupying power manages a contested region.
• Contrast with India’s integration of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh as Union Territories after the Article 370 reorganisation.

Essay / Ethics: the gap between the label “Azad” and lived reality; subsidies as a tool of pacification; legitimacy, rights and governance.

Background and Context

What Just Happened

• On 8 June 2026, security forces and demonstrators clashed in Rawalakot, Poonch division; the toll was at least 11 dead (by one account four police, a passer-by and six protesters) and more than 70 injured.
• The violence broke out before the JAAC’s 10 June rally, days before assembly elections scheduled for 27 July 2026.
• The administration restricted internet access for a third straight day, moved in federal paramilitary troops, issued travel advisories, and proscribed the JAAC under the Anti-Terrorism Act of 2014.
• Despite the curbs, organisers pressed ahead with the demonstration.

The 38-Point Charter

• The agitation grew out of a May 2023 movement against soaring electricity bills and shortages of subsidised wheat flour.
• Core demands: cheaper wheat flour and electricity, investigation of corrupt officials, better welfare and infrastructure, an end to elite perks, and abolition of the 12 reserved assembly seats.
• The government claimed to have met 35 of the 38 demands, yet the streets did not settle — a sign the grievance runs deeper than any single subsidy.

A Recurring Cycle

• The current unrest is the third major cycle in three years: May 2023 (electricity and flour smuggling), May 2024 (larger and bloodier), and June 2026.
• In May 2024, a six-day JAAC-led strike across Muzaffarabad and other towns ended only after Pakistan’s PM approved a PKR 23 billion subsidy package.
• That deal cut the price of 40 kg of wheat to about PKR 2,000 and electricity tariffs to roughly PKR 3, 5 and 6 per unit across consumption slabs; three protesters were killed and more than 100 injured before it was struck.
• The 2026 round shows price relief bought calm but not contentment: once subsidies eroded and structural demands went unmet, the movement returned with sharper political edges.

The Roots: 1947 and the Division

• At Partition, the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir under Maharaja Hari Singh did not immediately accede — a Muslim-majority population under a Hindu ruler, wedged between the two new states.
• On 22 October 1947, tribal militias from Pakistan’s North-West Frontier invaded and advanced toward Srinagar, pausing to plunder around Baramulla.
• The Maharaja sought Indian help and signed the Instrument of Accession on 26 October 1947, accepted by the Government of India; Pakistan called it “fraud and violence.”
• The 1947-48 war left a ceasefire line splitting the state — India holding the Valley, Jammu and Ladakh; Pakistan retaining the western strip and northern areas.
• That line was renamed the Line of Control under the 1972 Simla Agreement and remains the de facto boundary, though India’s legal claim extends across it. See the Indo-Pakistani wars note.

How Pakistan Administers PoK

• Two units, one occupation: Pakistan splits its occupied territory into so-called AJK and Gilgit-Baltistan, under separate and unequal arrangements.
• AJK’s nominal autonomy: a president, prime minister and assembly (45 directly contested seats), but defence, foreign affairs, currency and constitutional matters rest with Islamabad — “Azad” (free) is nominal.
• The reserved-seat distortion: 12 of the 45 seats are reserved for Kashmiri refugees settled across Pakistan, diluting the voice of residents and giving Islamabad an indirect lever.
• Gilgit-Baltistan’s limbo: direct federal control until a thin 2009 self-governance order (2018 empowerment); still no constitutional recognition or National Assembly seats, despite strategic value bordering China and the Karakoram.
• Economic dependence: subsidised wheat flour and electricity tariffs are levers Islamabad pulls to calm or trigger unrest, as 2024 and 2026 show.
• Security overreach: internet shutdowns, paramilitary deployment and use of an anti-terrorism law against a civic platform mark the standard response.

India’s Settled Position

• On 22 February 1994, both Houses of Parliament unanimously declared J&K — including Gilgit and Baltistan — an integral part of India “by virtue of its fully legal and irrevocable accession,” demanding Pakistan vacate the occupied areas.
• After the 2019 reorganisation into Union Territories, the MEA has repeatedly restated this, rejecting any Pakistani attempt to bring “material changes” to the occupied areas, including elections in or status changes to Gilgit-Baltistan.
• India and Pakistan also remain bound by the 1972 Simla Agreement to settle differences bilaterally and peacefully.

The IR Lens

• The unrest is not separatist but a revolt over cost of living, accountability and political voice — residents demand cheaper power in a region whose own rivers feed Pakistan’s grid.
• The 38-point charter reads like a citizens’ bill of basic rights, which makes it hard for the state to delegitimise even after proscribing the JAAC.
• The reserved-seat dispute is the constitutional tell: AJK has the form of democracy without its substance, while Gilgit-Baltistan is denied even the form.
• India’s stake is legal (1994 resolution and Instrument of Accession), strategic (Gilgit-Baltistan and CPEC) and humanitarian (rights and living conditions) at once.
• India’s leverage on the ground is limited: protests will likely ease through a subsidy package rather than structural reform, leaving the underlying status untouched.

Challenges and Concerns

• Information blackout: internet suspensions make independent verification of casualty figures and ground conditions difficult.
• Pacification over reform: subsidy packages calm protests without fixing the constitutional and representation deficit.
• Criminalising dissent: proscribing a civic platform under an anti-terrorism law treats rights demands as security threats.
• Strategic entanglement: Gilgit-Baltistan’s role in CPEC complicates any resolution of its status.
• Limited Indian leverage: India can assert claim and raise rights diplomatically, but cannot shape governance inside occupied territory.

Way Forward

• For UPSC preparation, treat the news as an entry point and master the durable layer: the 1947 accession, the division of the former princely state, the contrasting governance of AJK and Gilgit-Baltistan, and India’s legal position under the 1994 resolution and the Instrument of Accession.
• Map the geography — Rawalakot, Poonch, Muzaffarabad, Gilgit-Baltistan and the Karakoram corridor.
• Connect the unrest to broader themes of resource control, representation and the strategic stakes of CPEC, so an answer can move from the headline to the structural argument.
• Hold two threads together: the human grievance over prices and representation, and the unresolved sovereignty question, showing how India’s consistent MEA position converts the second into a steady diplomatic claim.

Conclusion

The June 2026 protests expose the price Pakistan pays to hold what it occupies: recurring unrest rooted in the cost of living, accountability and political voice rather than separatism.

The exam-relevant insight is that PoK’s instability is chronic and economic at root, that Pakistan’s governance model — democratic form without substance in AJK, no recognition for Gilgit-Baltistan — is the proximate cause, and that India’s role remains one of legal claim and diplomatic advocacy under the 1994 resolution and the Simla Agreement.

With regional polls due in late July 2026, the proscription of the JAAC and the crackdown carry an electoral subtext, raising the question of whether genuine political competition is possible in a system that reserves seats for non-residents and criminalises civic protest.

UPSC Practice Questions

Prelims MCQ 1

Consider the following statements regarding Pakistan-occupied Kashmir:

1. Pakistan administers its occupied territory in two units — so-called Azad Jammu and Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan.
2. Of the 45 directly contested seats in the AJK legislative assembly, 12 are reserved for refugees from Indian-administered Kashmir.
3. The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor passes through Gilgit-Baltistan.

How many of the above statements are correct?

(a) Only one (b) Only two (c) All three (d) None

Answer: (c)

Explanation:

• All three statements are correct: Pakistan splits the territory into AJK and Gilgit-Baltistan; 12 of the AJK assembly’s 45 directly contested seats are reserved for refugees from Indian-administered Kashmir; and CPEC runs through Gilgit-Baltistan, which borders China and the Karakoram.

Prelims MCQ 2

The unanimous resolution declaring Jammu and Kashmir, including Gilgit and Baltistan, an integral part of India and demanding that Pakistan vacate the occupied areas was passed by both Houses of Parliament on:

(a) 26 October 1947 (b) 22 February 1994 (c) 2 July 1972 (d) 5 August 2019

Answer: (b)

On 22 February 1994, both Houses unanimously adopted the resolution; 26 October 1947 is the date of the Instrument of Accession, 1972 the Simla Agreement, and 5 August 2019 the Article 370 reorganisation.

UPSC Mains Questions

1. Trace the constitutional and political status of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, distinguishing so-called Azad Jammu and Kashmir from Gilgit-Baltistan, and explain why India regards both as illegally occupied territory. (GS Paper 2, 15 marks, 250 words)

2. The recurring protests in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir are economic and rights-based rather than separatist. Examine the causes of this unrest and its implications for India-Pakistan relations. (GS Paper 2, 15 marks, 250 words)