PoK erupts: Thousands demand 'azadi' from Pakistan’s grip as largest protests in years shake Rawalakot

File Photo - Security personnel cordon off a street during a protest by demonstrators of the Jammu Kashmir Joint Awami Action Committee on the outskirts of Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir on May 13, 2024.

Tensions boiled over in Rawalakot, a key town in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK), as thousands of residents staged one of the largest anti-Pakistan demonstrations in recent years, openly demanding freedom from Islamabad’s grip.

Protesters, including children, women, and the elderly, marched through the streets waving flags and chanting ‘Azaadi’ (freedom) from the Pakistan Army and Islamabad’s administration. The mass dissent quickly met with a harsh and violent response from Pakistani security forces.

Top Indian intelligence sources told CNN-News18 that the unrest was fuelled by years of systemic neglect, rampant unemployment, and a chronic lack of basic amenities in the region. Witnesses said the situation spiralled when Pakistan Army personnel launched a brutal lathi-charge and fired tear gas into the crowd, leaving several civilians, including elderly individuals and women, injured.

In an apparent bid to crush the movement, Pakistani forces detained multiple protest leaders before the demonstrations could spread to other parts of PoK. But the crackdown appears to have backfired, as the arrests only intensified public anger, with many locals vowing to continue their fight despite the dangers.

Although PoK is nominally a self-governing territory, Islamabad’s control is absolute, enforced through bureaucratic chokeholds and military oversight that strip local leaders of any real authority.

Human rights groups have for decades accused Pakistan of ruling PoK through fear, employing arbitrary arrests, custodial torture, enforced disappearances, and targeted killings to silence dissent. These heavy-handed tactics have long kept resistance in check, but the sheer scale and defiance of the current protests suggest the fear barrier is finally beginning to crack.