Political Crisis in PoK

June 29, 2026

The current political crisis in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) underscores the deep disconnect between the local population and a “toothless” regional administration that remains entirely subservient to Islamabad. The authorities’ decision to ban the Joint Awami Action Committee (JAAC) and deploy lethal force in the occupied territory reflects a broader militarydriven strategy to suppress genuine local resistance and demands for political reform. The unrest in PoK, which has left dozens dead, intensified after Pakistani authorities outlawed the JAAC on June 5, branding the grassroots group a “terrorist” organisation. Islamabad has long exercised political control over the region through Pakistan’s mainstream parties, which have dominated power for decades, while steadily shrinking the space for local political groups, a report in the ‘International Centre for Peace Studies’ highlighted. According to the report, the party in power in Islamabad has consistently emerged victorious in elections in PoK and Pakistan-occupied Gilgit-Baltistan (PoGB), a pattern that, it argued, can hardly be dismissed as mere coincidence. It highlighted that the “so-called democratic exercise of holding elections is merely a facade, as the conditions created by Islamabad compel locals to align with the party in power in Islamabad”. Also, if the analysis that having the same party in power at both the federal and regional levels ensures better governance is true, then PoK should have emerged as one of the most developed regions. Instead, the region remains the “least developed and exploited. It further stressed that “interference and control of Islamabad on the local politics make it unlikely that it would be willing to make any change in the existing political structure” in PoK. With the elections scheduled to be held in the region on July 27, the report said, it was becoming clear that the existing political structure would continue and the local government would remain under the control of Islamabad.