Claim: A video shows the moment a large number of protesters passed through a road in Rawalakot, Kashmir, amid the days-long unrest in June 2026.
Fact: The video is not from the June 2026 unrest in Rawalakot but actually shows protesters amid a lockdown in the region in September 2025.
On 8 and 9 June 2026, multiple Facebook users posted a video showing a large number of protesters passing through a road in Pakistan-administered Kashmir shortly after clashes with law enforcement personnel in the area.
Clashes in Pakistan-administered Kashmir
On 7 June 2026, severe deadly clashes erupted between law enforcement officers and protesters in Rawalakot in Pakistan-administered Kashmir when crowds gathered outside the Combined Military Hospital (CMH).
The clashes occurred after police arrived at the location to disperse a sit-in protesting the death of an activist associated with the Joint Awami Action Committee (JAAC), which was designated as a proscribed organisation two days prior.
According to security officials and human rights reports, the ensuing clashes resulted in at least 11 deaths — consisting of protesters and police officers — alongside dozens of injuries.
Over 70, including 23 security officials and 50 protesters, were injured, police chief Liaqat Malik said.
The state-run Pakistan TV reported on 9 June that videos showing an alleged assault on the Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) police personnel in Rawalakot on 7 June and the “desecration” of a deceased officer’s body had surfaced. It termed the incident a “preplanned attack”.
The same day, the AJK government ordered that “sedition charges be filed against [JAAC leader Shaukat Nawaz] Mir and another leader of the group, Mehran Arshad Khawaja, accusing them of inciting rebellion through speeches and online content”. It also announced a reward of PKR 10 million “for information leading to the arrest of four wanted members”.
According to a police statement, initial evidence indicated that “some of the five were in contact with ‘a hostile intelligence agency from a neighboring country’, without providing further details”.
The demonstrations originally took off against the 12 reserved seats in the legislature of Pakistan-administered Kashmir “for refugees from Indian-administered Kashmir who now live in other parts of Pakistan”. The JAAC has also demanded the abolition of these seats as they are not representative of actual residents of the region.
The AJK Supreme Court then ruled that those 12 reserved seats were constitutionally protected and an amendment was required to abolish them. Prior to that, the May 2026 talks between the JAAC and the government were unsuccessful.
The unrest escalated after the government deployed federal paramilitary forces ahead of a planned region-wide strike, said Amnesty International, which criticised the JAAC’s proscription in its statement as “disproportionate, unlawful, and a violation of the right to freedom of association”.
Amnesty also noted that authorities have targeted journalists reporting on the protests, with Sohrab Barkat arrested over alleged “defamation” and dissemination of “false and fake information”.
Alongside the arrest of over 100 members of the banned group, authorities suspended internet and mobile network signals and issued strict travel advisories restricting movement into the region until 27 July, when regional elections are scheduled. The JAAC’s head office was sealed by the AJK Police, according to the state-run Radio Pakistan.
Mir, the JAAC leader, termed the government actions “a massacre”, while Poonch sector commissioner Sardar Waheed Khan rejected the claim, terming it “misleading” and saying the state was trying to “restore law and order”.
Pakistan TV reported on 14 June that “armed individuals linked to the banned JAAC opened fire on an armoured vehicle during a police flag march in Rawalakot” and showed a video of armed men gathered at an unidentified location.
The state-run channel also reported on an alleged leaked recording between JAAC leader Sajid Azam, also the president of “Trade Union Thorar District Poonch”, and Hameed Kashmiri, a member of the banned group, discussing how they had “five hundred riflemen” ready and that they would demand to “vacate Rawalakot in two hours”.
Local officials reported mid-June that the main protest gatherings in Rawalakot had significantly dwindled, leading to a partial relaxation of curfew-like restrictions to allow for limited commercial hours.
On 18 June, AJK Prime Minister Faisal Mumtaz Rathore said Rawalakot was the “staging ground” of the JAAC’s “Campaign of Chaos” and that, from there, “they planned to march towards Muzaffarabad”.
“Even though the offer for negotiations still stands, we are not in [a] hurry (they should be) and the State will not capitulate. We’ll show flexibility to only those who want to de-escalate and want peace. We fully support the voices that demand fair rights, but we’ll never tolerate those who spread anarchy,” he added.
Fact or Fiction?
Soch Fact Check reverse-searched keyframes from the viral video and found that it was not from June 2026.
We found matching visuals from October 2025, showing the same blue truck at the start of the viral video, buildings in the background, and a signboard facing the direction the protesters are coming from. These can be seen in the fourth and fifth pictures in this Reddit post, the second picture in this Urdu News article, and the second and third picture in this Instagram post.
The earliest matching video is from 30 September 2025 when it was posted on TikTok with an Urdu caption that, in English, reads, “Salute to the rebels of Rawalakot. Blood will bring change.”
Interestingly, the Reddit and TikTok posts, as well as the Urdu News article, attribute the visuals to a “Hamza Naseer,” an individual who has posted updates from Rawalakot both during the 2025 lockdown and the 2026 unrest.
In September 2025, the now-banned JAAC had called for a lockdown at the end of the month in a bid to force the government to agree to their demands, while the authorities imposed a communications blackout.
At the time, AJK’s then-PM Chaudhry Anwarul Haq had said his government “met 90% of the protesters’ demands” but that “two demands — reducing the number of ministers and scrapping reserved seats for Kashmiri refugees — could only be addressed through legislation”, according to a report.
The JAAC had presented “a 38-point charter of demands” before the AJK government.
It was reported on 4 October 2025 that a peace deal was reached between Pakistani authorities and the JAAC, “ending days of violent protests that left at least 10 people dead”.
As per the deal, Haq’s government “agreed to continue subsidising wheat and electricity, besides accepting more than three dozen other demands related to reducing the number of ministers and improving health, education, and other public services”, the report added.
Soch Fact Check, therefore, concludes that the video is misleading as it does not show any activity from the June 2026 unrest in Rawalakot.
Virality
Soch Fact Check found the video posted multiple times on different social media platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, Threads, X (formerly Twitter), TikTok, and YouTube.
The video gained over 245,000 views on X, where it was also posted by an Indian account.
An Indian website also used a screenshot from the video as a feature image for its story around the June 2026 unrest in Rawalakot.
Interestingly, the Karachi chapter of the jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party posted the video on its social media accounts, garnering thousands of views and hundreds of reactions.
Moreover, PTI activist Shehr Bano — who has often posted false claims and has herself been targeted by fake news in the past — also shared the misleading video on her X account.
Conclusion: The video is not from the June 2026 unrest in Rawalakot but actually shows protesters amid a lockdown in the region in September 2025.
Background image in cover photo: sardarhamzanaseer626
To appeal against our fact-check, please send an email to appeals@sochfactcheck.com