Workers’ Voice / La Voz de los Trabajadores, a socialist organization in the United States, joins the worldwide expressions of protest against the actions of Pakistani authorities in attacking and killing peaceful demonstrators in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.

The international media has reported that killings by Pakistani forces have been steadily mounting for over a month against Kashmiris who are demonstrating for significant reforms to the elections process. The violence came to a head on July 27, when Pakistani Rangers opened fire on thousands of peaceful and unarmed protesters who had begun to march from the town of Rawalakot to the regional capital of Muzaffarabad. Reports indicate that over two dozen people lost their lives in that attack.

This was followed by a Pakistani assault on protesters in Mirpur on July 28. The Jammu Kashmir Joint Awami Action Committee (JAAC) said that at least five had been killed after people came together to protest the killings of the previous day. The JAAC wrote on X that “security forces opened direct fire on unarmed civilians in Mirpur, Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir. The use of lethal force against peaceful, unarmed people is unacceptable and must be subject to an immediate, independent international investigation.”

We also note the July 28 statement by Isabelle Lassee, Amnesty International’s Acting Regional Director for South Asia: “The disturbing reports emerging from Rawalakot are consistent with the Pakistani authorities’ long history of unlawful violence against protesters in Jammu and Kashmir. A prompt, independent, and transparent investigation must be ordered into the security forces’ use of force against protesters. … We urge the Pakistani authorities to restore all communications access and allow media and independent observers into the area.

“Tensions around this election are being heightened by the unlawful ban on the Jammu and Kashmir Joint Awami Action Committee (JAAC). Amnesty International has repeatedly called on the Pakistani authorities to lift the ban on this protest movement and stop weaponizing anti-terror laws to silence and arbitrarily detain JAAC members and supporters. The ban cannot be used as an excuse to mete out deadly violence against protesters.”

Workers’ Voice supports the demand for an independent investigation into the killings, and for a process that would lead to obtaining justice for the victims and their families. We also support the rights of the Kashmiri people to organize and participate in protests and to conduct free, fair, and unhindered elections in line with their democratic right to self-determination. We call on Pakistan to lift the ban and all repression against the JAAC.

— Workers’ Voice / La Voz de los Trabajadores

July 28, 2026

Photo: R. Mughal / Picture-alliance /AP