AJK police accuse JAAC of working under an 'agenda', say sophisticated weapons seized

Police in Azad Jammu and Kashmir held press conferences this week accusing the banned Joint Awami Action Committee of deliberately targeting law enforcement personnel, following violent clashes in Rawalakot and Mirpur that left officers dead and dozens injured.

Where the clashes happened

The latest unrest played out over two days, with violence in Rawalakot on one day followed by clashes in Mirpur the next. Police say roughly 15 officers were injured in the recent attacks, part of a wider pattern of confrontation between security forces and JAAC that has escalated through the year.

The toll for 2026 so far

Officials laid out a grim tally for the year: 26 police personnel martyred in 2026 alone, alongside 157 seriously injured and 629 with minor injuries. A Rangers official was also reported martyred in the recent clashes, adding a paramilitary casualty to a toll that has so far been dominated by police losses.

How this year compares to previous flashpoints

Police officials placed the current toll against two earlier incidents to illustrate an escalating trend. On May 11, 2024, one police officer was killed with 60 seriously injured and 174 sustaining minor injuries. In October 2025, three officers were killed, 52 seriously injured and 357 hurt. Measured against those two prior flashpoints, the 2026 toll of 26 martyred officers marks a significant jump in police fatalities specifically, even if total injury counts vary year to year.

Police describe a deliberate campaign

Senior Superintendent of Police Riaz Mughal, addressing reporters alongside SSP Khawar Ali Shaukat, argued the casualty figures themselves undercut any framing of JAAC's activity as peaceful protest. "In 2026 only, 26 of our personnel were martyred, while 157 were seriously injured," Mughal said, before posing a pointed question to observers: "After this figure, how can you say that they are peaceful protesters?"

What JAAC is protesting

The group's underlying grievance centres on the allocation of 12 reserved legislature seats for Kashmiri refugees, an issue that has fuelled recurring unrest in AJK. Police allege that around 70 percent of those involved in the protests are criminals rather than genuine activists, and point to the sophistication of weapons recovered from arrested suspects as evidence of foreign backing, specifically alleging Indian funding, though these remain police characterisations rather than independently verified findings.

Rights groups are watching closely

Both the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan and Amnesty International have expressed concern over the situation in AJK, a sign that the clashes and the government's response to them are drawing scrutiny beyond Pakistan's own security establishment.

With casualty figures for 2026 already exceeding the toll from either of the two comparison years police cited, and with rights organisations monitoring the response, how authorities handle both the security crackdown and the underlying reserved-seats dispute is likely to shape whether the unrest cools or continues escalating through the rest of the year.

The involvement of a Rangers official among the recent casualties also signals that the confrontation has drawn in paramilitary forces beyond AJK's own police, a widening of the security response that typically accompanies unrest authorities consider serious enough to require reinforcement rather than routine policing.

For residents caught between the two sides, the practical effect of the escalation is a region where routine movement and daily life are increasingly shaped by security operations, checkpoints and the risk of sudden clashes breaking out in areas that were previously considered stable.