ISLAMABAD: Access to Al Jazeera’s website was reported unavailable to many users in Pakistan on Monday, a day after the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting accused the Doha-based broadcaster of “selective reporting” on elections in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK).
In a statement posted on X on Sunday, the ministry alleged that Al Jazeera had reported from “handpicked polling stations” in Muzaffarabad, using “carefully chosen timings and scripted statements from selected individuals” in what it described as an attempt to “misrepresent” the AJK elections and the voting process.
“Such yellow journalism only confirms the agenda of external actors with vested interests who are attempting to de-legitimise this electoral exercise and undermine the popular will of the people of Muzaffarabad and AJK,” the ministry said, adding that this intent was “clearly demonstrated today in their rejection of anarchy and coercion.”
We have taken note of Al Jazeera’s selective reporting from handpicked polling stations in Muzaffarabad today. Through carefully chosen timings and scripted statements from selected individuals, the channel has sought to misrepresent the AJK elections and the voting process.
Such…— Ministry of Information & Broadcasting (@MoIB_Official) August 2, 2026
The ministry did not confirm that it had ordered the restriction, and Al Jazeera has not issued a formal response as of the filing of this report. The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has not released an official notification on the matter.
Elections amid a tense backdrop
The statement comes amid the second phase of AJK’s legislative elections, which are being held in phases through August 10. Polling in Muzaffarabad Division and on 12 seats reserved for refugees from Indian-administered Kashmir was under way on Sunday, with heavy deployment of law enforcement personnel.
The electoral process in LA-27 (Muzaffarabad-I) was postponed after heavy rain and a landslide blocked routes needed to transport polling staff and material, with the AJK Election Commission saying a revised date would be announced separately.
The vote follows months of unrest linked to the now-banned Jammu Kashmir Joint Awami Action Committee (JAAC), which had mobilised protesters around a charter of economic demands — including subsidised flour and lower electricity rates — that later expanded to include political demands regarding the region’s reserved refugee seats.
An All-Parties Conference in Muzaffarabad on June 3 rejected proposals to abolish those seats, and the AJK Supreme Court subsequently held that they could only be removed through a formal constitutional amendment.
Authorities have said the unrest, including sit-ins and a march toward Muzaffarabad, was at times marked by clashes between protesters and security forces.
Casualty figures from these clashes have varied by source and have not been independently verified; local estimates cited by Al Jazeera put the toll since June at over 80, while other reporting earlier in the summer cited lower figures nearer 30–40.
Authorities have not issued a single, consolidated casualty count, and independent verification has been limited by intermittent restrictions on internet and phone services in parts of the region.
Disputed incidents on polling day
Meanwhile, political parties too gave conflicting accounts of incidents in Muzaffarabad on Sunday.
PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari alleged an “attack” on the party’s regional president and LA-31 candidate, Chaudhry Latif Akbar, which he blamed on “miscreant elements” of the PML-N, and said a PPP worker, Mushtaq Shah, was killed in the same constituency. He called for immediate arrests.
The PML-N disputed the characterisation of a separate death in Muzaffarabad, with the party saying the individual concerned died of a heart ailment and had not suffered a bullet injury.
AJK Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Justice (retd) Ghulam Mustafa Mughal has previously said security concerns were most acute in the Poonch division, while local officials in Muzaffarabad had pointed to normal market activity as evidence the city was not, in their assessment, gripped by crisis.
Context
Sunday’s ministry statement is considered as the latest instance of friction between Islamabad and international broadcasters over coverage of AJK, a semi-autonomous region administered by Pakistan and also claimed by India.
It may be recalled that the government has previously defended its handling of the region’s security situation, while rights groups and some local politicians have called for independent, transparent accounting of casualties from this summer’s unrest.
