State Repression of Civil Society in Pakistan
- Genocide Watch
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State Repression of Civil Society and Protest Rights in Pakistan-Administered Kashmir
July 2026
By Juliana Girotto
Since early June 2026, authorities in Pakistan-administered Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) have carried out an escalating crackdown on protest movements and civil society organizing in the region. This raises serious concerns about human rights violations against protestors and citizens living in the AJK region. The government has responded to these recent protests by criminalizing a civil society organization under anti-terrorism law, imposing communications blackouts, carrying out mass arbitrary arrests, and using lethal force against demonstrators. Together, these measures represent a systematic effort to suppress dissent ahead of regional elections.
The Jammu and Kashmir Joint Awami Action Committee (JAAC) is a civil society organization that advocates for the rights of citizens in the AJK region and has led a sustained movement since 2023. JAAC originally organized around economic grievances such as high electricity costs and wheat shortages; the group has since broadened its demands to include increased economic subsidies, anti-corruption measures, and, importantly, the abolition of 12 seats in the region's legislative assembly reserved for refugees from Indian-administered Kashmir who resettled elsewhere in Pakistan after 1947. The current crisis began after dialogue collapsed between JAAC and federal officials in May 2026 over JAAC's demands regarding reserved seats. Following this, JAAC organized a rally on June 9.
In response, the AJK government began taking highly suppressive actions. On June 5, the government formally designated JAAC as a “proscribed organization” under the Anti-Terrorism Act of 2014, accusing the group of creating anarchy and intimidating the public. Police subsequently arrested more than 100 people associated with the organization within two days and raided JAAC’s central office in Muzaffarabad. In addition, a journalist who had covered the movement on his YouTube channel was arrested under the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act on charges of defamation and spreading false information. Designating a civil society organization that engages in peaceful protest as a terrorist entity, while simultaneously prosecuting journalists who cover it, functions to quell dissent and shield the government from opposition.
Alongside these legal restrictions, government authorities suspended all internet and mobile network services across the region from June 5 to at least June 12. Officials also issued a travel advisory, ordering tourists and outsiders to leave the region and warning prospective visitors to stay away. Taken together, these measures cut AJK off from outside communication and monitoring while security forces engaged in lethal confrontations with protestors. These measures made it far more difficult for journalists, human rights monitors, and residents’ own families to verify what was happening on the ground during these protests.
The crackdown on protests has also caused deaths, driven by the government’s disproportionate deployment of federal paramilitary troops. A JAAC activist, Shahzeb Habib, was shot and later died after police stopped his vehicle on June 5, although there was no indication he posed an imminent threat to officers. Habib’s death triggered more clashes, leaving at least eight protestors and four police officers dead, with dozens more injured. Local accounts later put the death toll even higher, at more than 30 people killed and over 200 injured.
These events involve several human rights violations, including the freedom of association and peaceful assembly, freedom of expression and of the press, protection from arbitrary arrest and detention, and the right to life, which requires that authorities use lethal force only as a last resort and in proportion to any genuine threat. The use of counterterrorism law against a civil society movement, combined with a communications blackout timed to obscure the violence, suggests that the government is attempting to frame political dissent as a security threat to justify extreme measures. With AJK's elections scheduled for July 27, there is a risk this pattern will continue.
Genocide Watch recommends:
The government of Pakistan and the AJK authorities must immediately lift the terrorism designation of JAAC and cease prosecuting civil society members and journalists under anti-terrorism laws.
Authorities must restore full internet and mobile communications access in AJK and refrain from imposing further internet shutdowns.
Authorities must conduct an independent, impartial investigation into all deaths arising from the crackdown.
The international community should press Pakistan to adhere to international standards on freedom of assembly and association, to allow independent monitors and mediators to access AJK, and to resume genuine dialogue with JAAC and other civil society organizations ahead of the July 27 elections.
