8 killed in escalating protests in Azad Kashmir

At least eight people, including three police officers and five civilians, have been killed in four days of violent unrest in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK), Pakistani officials confirmed on Thursday, as Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif urgently dispatched a high-level federal delegation to the region’s capital, Muzaffarabad, to broker peace. The protests erupted on Monday when thousands from surrounding towns converged on Muzaffarabad, demanding an end to what activists describe as “elite privileges” enjoyed by local politicians and bureaucrats—and challenging the reservation of seats in the AJK legislature for representatives from mainland Pakistan, a practice critics say undermines local autonomy. With phone lines and internet access severed across the region—a move authorities say is for “security reasons”—images from Muzaffarabad showed...