Brussels, Aug 6 (IANS) The grave human rights situation in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) reflects how a security-centred approach has increasingly expanded beyond addressing immediate threats. Over the past decade, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, and the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) have repeatedly raised concerns over enforced disappearances, excessive use of force, restrictions on freedom of expression, gender-based violence, and lack of accountability in the occupied territory, a report has stated.
On July 27, the first day of so-called legislative elections in PoK, violent clashes broke out in Rawalakot, with the Joint Awami Action Committee (JAAC) alleging that Pakistani security forces used live ammunition against protesters, resulting in dozens of deaths and injuries. At the same time, the ongoing shutdown of mobile and internet services made independent verification difficult, restricting the ability of journalists, human rights groups, and election observers to assess the situation on the ground, a report in Brussels-based EU Reporter has highlighted.
It noted that the violence in Rawalakot was not an isolated incident but the broader pattern of a political crisis that had been building over several weeks. On June 5, just hours after regional elections were announced, the Pakistani authorities designated the JAAC a “proscribed organisation” under Pakistan’s Anti-Terrorism Act and imposed an indefinite suspension of mobile internet services while carrying out mass arrests targeting the movement’s leaders and supporters.
“The JAAC case is significant because it illustrates a broader transformation in Pakistan’s approach to political dissent since the disputed general elections of 8 February 2024. Those elections were characterised by a nationwide internet shutdown, allegations of restrictions targeting opposition parties, and persistent concerns regarding electoral integrity (Freedom House, 2025; Human Rights Watch, 2025). Following the elections, the government of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif significantly expanded state authority in the digital sphere through amendments to the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (PECA), enacted in January 2025,” the report detailed.
According to the report, counterterrorism laws, digital regulations, and emergency measures are no longer used to address specific security threats but are increasingly being applied to manage routine political dissent.
The events surrounding the JAAC, it said, mark the beginning of a broader analysis of how the widening use of security powers has been accompanied by increasing concerns about human rights, civic freedoms, and institutional accountability in PoK.
The report argued that the convergence of counterterrorism laws, extended internet shutdowns, restrictions on political participation, coercive policing, and continuing human rights concerns signals a broader shift in the exercise of state authority.
It added that the designation of the JAAC as a proscribed organisation, the communications blackout ahead of the so-called legislative elections in the occupied territory, allegations of excessive force against demonstrators, and the wider pattern of documented human rights concerns “collectively illustrate how emergency powers may become institutionalised beyond their original security rationale.”
–IANS
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