More than three months after communications restrictions were introduced in Pakistan-administered Jammu and Kashmir — referred to by India as Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir (PoJK) — residents continue to face a prolonged internet shutdown that has disrupted banking, business, education and access to information.
Mobile data and broadband services have remained suspended or severely restricted since June 5, according to internet-monitoring reports. The disruption has now passed the 100-day mark, despite the completion of regional elections and the formation of a new government. Online banking remains affected, commercial activity has been disrupted and entrance examinations have been postponed as students struggle with the consequences of the blackout.
The communications restrictions were imposed as unrest intensified around the Jammu Kashmir Joint Awami Action Committee (JKJAAC), a grassroots coalition bringing together traders, transporters, lawyers, students and other civil society groups.
Pakistani authorities designated the organisation as proscribed under regional anti-terrorism legislation on June 5. One of its central demands concerned the abolition of 12 seats in the 45-member regional Legislative Assembly reserved for refugees from Indian-administered Kashmir living elsewhere in Pakistan. Supporters of the demand argue that the arrangement allows voters who do not reside in the territory to exercise disproportionate influence over its political leadership, while Pakistani and regional authorities have defended the existing constitutional framework.
Deadly clashes and disputed casualty figures
The political confrontation escalated into violence ahead of and during the regional election process.
Amnesty International said on July 28 that reports of security forces using lethal force against demonstrators in Rawalakot required a prompt, independent and transparent investigation. At the time, the organisation noted that the ongoing communications blackout made independent verification of events considerably more difficult.
The exact number of people killed remains contested.
Amnesty cited media reports indicating that at least 40 people had been killed before the first phase of voting, including protesters as well as police and paramilitary personnel. More recent local estimates cited by international media have placed the overall death toll above 50, although those figures have not been independently verified. Activist groups have issued still higher estimates.
This lack of independently verifiable information has itself become a central part of the controversy surrounding the crisis.
The regional elections were eventually conducted in three phases, with the final round held on August 10. Voting was disrupted or did not take place in some protest strongholds for security reasons, but a government was subsequently formed on the basis of results from the remaining constituencies.
Journalists detained or missing
Restrictions on press freedom have attracted growing international scrutiny.
The Committee to Protect Journalists reported that independent journalists Razi Tahir and Muhammad Saif were taken from their Islamabad office on August 1 by men reported to be wearing police uniforms. Pakistani police had not acknowledged holding the pair when CPJ published its alert, and their whereabouts remained unknown. Both journalists had previously reported on the unrest in Pakistan-administered Kashmir.
In September, CPJ and eight other press-freedom and human-rights organisations wrote to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, urging his government to address what they described as a rapidly deteriorating environment for journalists and calling for the safe return of Tahir and Saif.
Another journalist, Muhammad Bilal Ghauri, was reported missing by his family from his Islamabad office on September 6. Pakistani authorities later acknowledged a cybercrime case against him over social-media commentary concerning a security appointment, according to CPJ.
Kashmiri poet and journalist Ahmad Farhad was also held under administrative detention from June. Amnesty International described his detention as arbitrary and linked it to the wider crackdown on peaceful assembly and freedom of expression in the territory.
Foreign media face tighter restrictions
Reporting from the region has also become more difficult for foreign correspondents.
In August, Pakistan introduced new Foreign Media Facilitation Guidelines requiring foreign journalists — as well as Pakistani employees, freelancers and fixers working with international organisations — to obtain government authorisation for assignments outside Islamabad, Lahore and Karachi.
The Committee to Protect Journalists warned that the rules could further restrict independent coverage of the Kashmir unrest and expose reporters and local collaborators to administrative pressure. CPJ also noted that access to Al Jazeera’s website had been restricted after Pakistani officials criticised the network’s coverage of the regional elections and protests.
Pakistan’s own rights commission raises concerns
Concerns over the authorities’ response have also come from within Pakistan.
Following an August fact-finding mission, the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan said the unrest was rooted in institutional distrust, restrictions on freedom of expression and connectivity, and an increasingly confrontational state response.
The HRCP said it had received conflicting accounts concerning both the scale of violence and the behaviour of protesters and security forces. Nevertheless, it found broad agreement among political and community stakeholders that the crisis required a political rather than coercive solution.
Pressure from Britain and international organisations
The crisis has also reached the British Parliament, where large numbers of constituents have family links to Kashmir.
In June, Labour MP Imran Hussain, chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Kashmir, raised the issue in the House of Commons, referring to reports of bloodshed, arrests and communications restrictions and calling for the restoration of communications and the resumption of dialogue. More than 30 British parliamentarians had also written to Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper expressing concern about the blackout and escalating tensions.
A UK government response to a parliamentary petition later said it was concerned by reports of unrest, deaths and restrictions on communications and had raised the situation with Islamabad.
A crisis that has outlasted the elections
The persistence of the internet shutdown long after the election process was completed has now become one of the defining features of the crisis.
What began as an emergency measure amid protests and electoral tensions has continued into a fourth month, affecting everyday life far beyond the political confrontation itself.
Human rights organisations are calling for communications to be restored, independent journalists to be allowed access, allegations of excessive force to be investigated and political grievances to be addressed through dialogue rather than coercive measures.
For residents, however, the immediate reality remains unchanged: more than 100 days after the blackout began, large parts of Pakistan-administered Kashmir remain cut off from normal digital communications, while the full human cost of the unrest is still difficult to independently establish.