South Asia — 2026-07-27

Internet Blackout and Roadblocks Leave Pakistani Kashmir in Limbo as Dozens Die in Election Protests

BLUFPoonch Division's August 10 vote is unlikely to proceed as scheduled, leaving Pakistan's staggered election framework without representation in the district driving the crisis.

Mobile and broadband internet across Pakistan-administered Kashmir has been suspended since June 5, and road closures persist across Poonch Division, disrupting emergency transport, banking, and commerce six weeks into protests over the banned Jammu Kashmir Joint Awami Action Committee and its demand to abolish 12 refugee-reserved assembly seats 1. Deputy Commissioner Munir Qureshi told Al Jazeera internet access remains available at limited locations, including banks, and that closures are confined to parts of Poonch, with movement elsewhere in Muzaffarabad and Mirpur divisions unrestricted 1. Residents in Poonch and Sudhnoti described a shutdown with no exceptions and a mobile network unable to sustain calls 1. The Election Commission rescheduled the previously single-day July 27 vote into three phases, citing unavailability of security forces: Mirpur Division on July 27, Muzaffarabad Division and the 12 refugee seats on August 2, and Poonch Division on August 10 2. A curfew has been in place in Rawalakot since early June during the crackdown, and the Jammu Kashmir Joint Awami Action Committee is calling the elections a sham, while Chief Election Commissioner Ghulam Mustafa Mughal said observers, including from Pakistan, remain welcome 3.

Analysis
A further postponement of the August 10 Poonch vote is unlikely. Poonch alone forced the shift from single-day to three-phase polling and shows no de-escalation matching Mirpur and Muzaffarabad, and a second delay would leave it unrepresented while sharpening the boycott movement's case that the process is illegitimate where unrest is worst. Confidence is high, based on convergence between government and resident accounts that disruption remains confined to Poonch specifically rather than easing territory-wide, with sourcing resting on two independent primary field accounts reinforced by separate outlet reporting. This cuts against the June assessment that connectivity would return by mid-July; six weeks on, mobile and broadband service remains suspended and the crisis has grown from a banned group's protest into one splitting the election calendar. Officials counter that the phased schedule already isolates the unrest and that troops freed after August 2 could secure Poonch on time, a clean vote letting Islamabad stand down the extra deployment now sustaining the earlier phases.

3 sources

Collapsed: Roadblocks, internet blackout leave Pakistani Kashmir in limbo - Al Jazeera
Protests, internet blackout and a shifting schedule: The challenges clouding AJK elections - Voicepk.net
Unrest in Pakistan-administered Kashmir casts doubt over election - The Christian Science Monitor