Al Jazeera:
Islamabad, Pakistan – An uneasy calm hangs over Pakistan-administered Kashmir as the region marked the fourth day of a complete shutdown on Thursday, with at least 15 people killed – including three police officers – during violent clashes between protesters and security forces.
Dozens more have been injured on both sides as the standoff continues.
The federal government has dispatched a negotiating committee that arrived on Thursday in Muzaffarabad, the territory’s capital, to hold crucial talks with the Jammu Kashmir Joint Awami Action Committee (JAAC), an umbrella organisation representing traders and civil society groups that has emerged as the voice of grassroots discontent across the region.
Led by activist Shaukat Nawaz Mir, the JAAC-organised lockdown commenced on September 29 and has brought several districts of Pakistan-administered Kashmir – locally known as Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) – to a grinding halt.
The government, on its part, has meanwhile imposed a complete communications blackout, with residents cut off from mobile telecommunications and internet access since September 28.
In Muzaffarabad, the usually bustling markets have remained shuttered, while street vendors and public transport have vanished from the roads. The paralysis has left the region’s roughly four million residents in a state of uncertainty.
The government said in a statement that authorities were working to restore order and urged the public not to be swayed by what officials described as propaganda and “fake news” circulating on social media as part of a “specific agenda”.
