Claim: A video shows the recent violent clashes between JAAC supporters and police officers in Rawalakot, Azad Jammu and Kashmir, on 5 June 2026.
Fact: The video is old and is not related to the recent tensions in AJK.
On 7 June 2026, a page on Instagram named ‘Global Peace Hub’ posted a video showing a hilly area clouded with smoke, claiming that it shows clashes between the police and “armed people” in Rawalakot, in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK).
The caption of the post reads:
🚨رپورٹس کے مطابق آزاد جموں و کشمیر کے علاقے راولاکوٹ میں ایک پرتش/دد واقعہ پیش آیا جس میں مسلح افراد کی فائر/نگ سے 3 پولیس اہلکار اور فیڈرل کانسٹیبلری کا 1 جوان جا/ں بحق ہو گئے جبکہ 20 سے زائد اہلکار زخمی ہوئے۔ بتایا جا رہا ہے کہ حم/لے میں جدید ہتھیار استعمال کیے گئے اور اسے ایک منظم اور پہلے سے طے شدہ کارروائی قرار دیا جا رہا ہے۔ حکام نے کہا ہے کہ واقعے میں ملوث افراد کے خلاف سخت قانونی کارروائی کی جائے گی۔
[Translation:🚨According to reports, a violent incident took place in Rawalakot area of Azad Jammu and Kashmir in which 3 police personnel and 1 Federal Constabulary personnel were killed and more than 20 personnel were injured due to gunmen firing. It is being told that modern weapons were used in the attack and it is being described as a well-organized and pre-planned operation. Authorities have said that strict legal action will be taken against those involved in the incident].
Soch Fact Check is only fact-checking the video shared in the post, not the claim mentioned in the caption.
Posts viral on Instagram and Facebook
Rawalakot clash
On 7 June 2026, police clashed with protesters in Rawalakot, Azad Jammu and Kashmir, who had gathered for a sit-in outside the Combined Military Hospital to protest the killing of a trader named Shahzaib Habib.
Shahzaib died of a gunshot wound, allegedly during a confrontation with law enforcement personnel on Friday 5 June, the day AJK’s government announced a ban on the Joint Awami Action Committee (JAAC) under the anti-terrorism act. The family of the deceased brought his body for a post-mortem examination at the CMH which led to scores of people gathering outside the premises.
Shahzaib’s family then demanded that they would not move or bury his body until the government withdrew its order of proscribing JAAC. “Our son faces the allegation of being a terrorist. We will not bury [him] until the notification branding [JAAC] as a terrorist group is withdrawn,” said a member of Shahzeb’s family, according to a source cited by Dawn. Tensions escalated after police arrived at the scene. A confrontation between the police and demonstrators led to the death of at least 20 people, including four policemen.
Fact or Fiction?
Soch Fact Check conducted a reverse-image search of the video to locate its source. While several accounts had also linked it to the claim being fact-checked, one Indian account on X shared it last year on 29 September 2025.
Moreover, a blue board visible in the video reads ‘WELCOME TO MUZAFFARABAD’, confirming that the video is not from Rawalakot, which is at least 106 kms away from Muzaffarabad according to Google Maps.
A screenshot of the X post from September 2025 and a zoomed-in image of the ‘WELCOME TO MUZAFFARABAD’ board in the video
Distance between Muzaffarabad and Rawalakot according to Google Maps
To further confirm the location of the video, Soch Fact Check also spoke with Naeem Abbasi, a senior reporter with GEO News, based in Muzaffarabad.
He pointed out that “the video is from the protests that took place last year in 2025. No protest like this has currently taken place in Muzaffarabad. The location shown in the video is near the Supreme Court of Azad Jammu Kashmir.”
A simple keyword search of “Muzaffarabad protests 2025” led to a news article by Dawn from 30 September 2025, titled “AJK paralysed by competing protests, communications blackout.” The article reported on a protest from last year when a wheel-jam strike by the JAACwas organised to call for the abolishment of “elite privileges and seats reserved for the Pakistan-based refugees from Indian-occupied Jammu and Kashmir.”
Therefore, based on these findings, Soch Fact Check confirms that the video in the claim is old and not from the recent June 2026 clashes in Rawalakot, AJK.
Virality
Soch Fact Check first came across a viral post on Instagram on 7 June 2026 with as many as 77,900 views and 309 shares that was picked up by other accounts on X and Facebook. An online news page on Facebook named Daily Rawalpindi also shared the video and garnered 94,000 views on the same date.
Posts viral on Instagram and Facebook are false
Conclusion: A video linked to the recent protests in Kashmir is, in fact, old and was shared online as early as September 2025.
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