In June, the JAAC had taken to the streets with a long march to Muzaffarabad, the occupied region’s capital, to call for electoral reform ahead of the polling for 53 seats in PoK. The three-phase election, which began 27 July, will continue till 10 August.The first phase Monday was marred by violence even as results were declared. As per the preliminary results, the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz), or PML (N), has a lead in Mirpur with the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) in second place, Dawn reported.The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) that won last year’s elections has chosen to boycott it, while members from the JAAC were disallowed from contesting as independents.S.A.Khan, a spokesperson for JAAC, accused the army of firing on unarmed protesters in Mirpur Tuesday and then removing the evidence.“Security forces have taken away the bodies and locked away the hospital in Mirpur,” he was quoted by The New York Times (NYT) in a report. “We have the photos and video evidence of bodies lying on streets in a pool of blood. The security forces abducted the bodies to erase the evidence.”According to local residents, violence erupted Tuesday afternoon after some people gathered to protest against killings the previous day. Pakistani media has no comprehensive detail of the number of killed or injured.JAAC members also criticised the protests being labelled ‘India-sponsored’ by Pakistan Information and Broadcasting Minister Atatullah Tarar. Defence Minister Khawaja Asif, in a video on X, labelled the protestors ‘enemies like India’.The protests, led by JAAC, have been ongoing past few years, demanding political and economic rights for local people, as well as electoral reforms. Protests linked to the movement have turned deadly before, including in 2024 and 2025. But the latest unrest appears to be the bloodiest since the Joint Awami Action Committee was established in 2023.In a press conference Wednesday, the PoK police claimed that JAAC was operating under a broader “agenda” and claimed that sophisticated weapons were recovered from arrested suspects.Umar Nazir Kashmiri, a senior leader of the Committee, however, had said in video messages released Monday that the movement remained peaceful and that organisers had instructed supporters not to carry weapons.Pakistani politicians, meanwhile, traded barbs on governance in the region. Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Wednesday hailed PML(N)’s “outstanding victory” in the first phase and rejected the PPP’s allegations of rigging.In a televised address, she urged the PPP to accept the results, arguing that election outcomes are determined by voters, not the state. She accused the PPP of failing to deliver during its tenure in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and Sindh, saying the party lacked both a credible performance record and a vision for the region.Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal echoed her remarks, describing PPP chairperson Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari’s rigging allegations as “undemocratic” and urging him to concede defeat, noting that the PML(N) had accepted the PPP’s victory in Gilgit-Baltistan without contest.Responding to the criticism, senior Sindh Minister Sharjeel Inam Memon accused the PML (N) of securing a “fake mandate” through a rigged election. He alleged that violence and the misuse of state power had marred the polls, claiming the ruling party was attempting to “steal the mandate”.