A partial shutdown was observed across six districts of Pakistan-administered Jammu and Kashmir on Monday as the Joint Awami Action Committee, the coalition behind months of protests in the region, appealed directly to Pakistan's military leadership to halt security operations in Rawalakot and offered to open negotiations.
Markets and commercial establishments remained partly closed in Muzaffarabad, Haveli, Neelum, Kotli, Mirpur and Bhimber in response to a protest call issued by the committee on 7 November, while business activity continued largely uninterrupted in Bagh and Jhelum Valley, according to reports from Muzaffarabad. The shutdown came four days after security forces moved to clear the committee's long-running sit-in at Rawalakot's bus terminal.
In a letter dated 8 November, the committee appealed to the army chief, Field Marshal Asim Munir, to intervene and bring an immediate end to security operations in Rawalakot and other affected areas. The move followed the committee's earlier outreach to senior figures seeking an end to the confrontation, and it marked a significant political step by a movement that has been banned since June and has spent months in open confrontation with the authorities.
The committee's overseas advisory body issued a separate proposal on the same day, offering immediate negotiations with the authorities under the supervision of independent observers. It proposed that authorised delegations from the government and the committee meet within 24 hours at a mutually acceptable neutral location. By Monday evening there was no confirmed indication that the authorities had accepted the proposed timetable or agreed to talks in the presence of independent observers.
The latest unrest follows an operation early on Thursday, 5 November, in which personnel of the Pakistan Rangers, the Frontier Corps and local police moved to clear protest encampments near the bus terminal and Umar Farooq Chowk in Rawalakot, where supporters of the committee had maintained a sit-in for about five months. Police said law enforcement agencies had moved to remove what they described as illegal barricades from public roads and restore the movement of citizens, and that the bus terminal area had been brought under control after an operation lasting about two hours.
Reports of the casualties from the operation conflict sharply and none has been independently verified. Initial accounts from Rawalakot reported three civilian deaths and at least 18 people injured. Subsequent reports put the number of fatalities as high as seven, while the committee has reported five deaths in the immediate confrontation. The authorities have not confirmed any deaths. Protest representatives have accused security forces of using drones, mortar shells and heavy weapons against demonstrators and residential areas, claims the authorities have not confirmed and which could not be independently verified.
On 6 November, thousands of people gathered at Eid Gah, Dreak Ground in Rawalakot for funeral prayers for three people reportedly killed during the operation the previous day, according to reports from the town. Firing was also reported around the protest locations on 6 November, a day after the initial operation, and residents described prolonged firing around Umar Farooq Chowk.
The United Kashmir People's National Party has condemned the reported civilian killings and the alleged use of drones and shelling, and has called for an independent international investigation into the incidents. The committee has claimed that about 150 people have been killed since the protest movement began in June, a cumulative figure that has not been independently verified and which the authorities have not accepted.
The movement began in June 2026 with demands closely tied to everyday life in the region, including affordable flour and electricity, better education and healthcare, relief from inflation and action on unemployment. The committee brought together traders, transporters, students and civil society activists, and led region-wide strikes before the authorities declared it a banned organisation on 5 June under the region's anti-terrorism laws, suspended internet and mobile services and arrested scores of its activists. An agreement was later reached between federal government representatives and the committee, but the confrontation resumed and the sit-ins continued.
What happens next now turns on whether the authorities respond to the committee's offer of talks. The committee has said it is ready to negotiate, but its proposal for a meeting within 24 hours under independent observers remained unanswered on Monday evening, and the shutdown showed that its ability to mobilise across the region remains intact. If the offer is taken up, the talks would be the first direct engagement since the Rawalakot operation; if it is not, the standoff that has already lasted five months looks set to deepen.
