Thousands of protesters gathered in Rawalakot — a hill station city in Pakistan-administered Kashmir — before marching toward the regional capital Muzaffarabad, as elections to the territory's legislative assembly got underway in a climate of deep unrest. More than 45 people have been killed and hundreds injured since protests erupted in June, casting a shadow over a vote that authorities have chosen to hold in three separate phases over two weeks, citing security concerns.

The first phase of polling began Monday in 13 constituencies of Mirpur division, where over 1.4 million registered voters were called to the polls. Nearly 2,100 army personnel were deployed alongside police and paramilitary forces under a three-tier security arrangement, with more than half of the 2,316 polling stations designated as sensitive or highly sensitive. The second and third phases are scheduled for August 2 and August 10, covering constituencies in Muzaffarabad division, Poonch division, and 12 so-called refugee constituencies — seats at the heart of the current dispute.

The protests are being led by the Jammu Kashmir Joint Awami Action Committee (JAAC), a coalition of nationalists, traders, and local activists that the Pakistani federal government banned in June on grounds of alleged links to terrorism. The JAAC's core grievance is the reservation of those 12 legislative seats for Kashmiri refugees who settled in Pakistan's provinces decades ago — a practice dating to the 1960s meant to reinforce the idea of Kashmir as a single political unit. Protesters argue that these seats have been captured by figures close to Pakistan's civil-military establishment with little genuine connection to the territory, giving Islamabad outsized influence over local governance. The crisis escalated on June 5 when authorities arrested hundreds of JAAC activists and, according to the group, attacked a convoy led by one of its leaders, killing an associate and sparking territory-wide demonstrations. A curfew in Rawalakot has remained in place since early June, with shops shuttered, internet restricted, and ATMs non-functional.

The unrest has broader implications for how Pakistan-administered Kashmir — a semi-autonomous region with its own courts, prime minister, and legislature — fits into the wider Kashmir dispute. Pakistan and India have fought multiple wars over the majority-Muslim, Himalayan region and remain divided by the Line of Control. Analysts note that the crackdown in Pakistan-administered Kashmir weakens Islamabad's long-standing argument that it champions Kashmiri rights against Indian repression, particularly after India revoked the special status of its side of Kashmir in 2019. "Now India can say that the things you accuse us of doing, you yourself are doing on a much bigger scale," said Farhan Khan, a Kashmiri journalist. Some residents also fear that India's 2019 move could foreshadow a similar revocation of Pakistan-administered Kashmir's own autonomous status.

With the JAAC calling the elections a sham and the political legitimacy of the vote openly contested, the regional chief election commissioner has urged large voter turnout and warned of strict legal action against anyone disrupting the process. Meanwhile, the elections have drawn competing campaigning from prominent national figures: Pakistan Muslim League-N leader Nawaz Sharif and Pakistan Peoples Party chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari have both canvassed in the territory, with observers framing the contest as a proxy rivalry between the two. Former Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, whose unofficial delegation was blocked from entering the region by security forces last month, has called on Islamabad to engage in dialogue rather than rely on force to resolve the crisis.