Srinagar, June 12: The situation in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) is becoming increasingly volatile as protests sparked by rising inflation, unemployment, government policies and abolishing of 12 reserved seats of PoK Assembly have evolved into a broader public movement despite a brutal crackdown by the Pakistan army.

The police and Pakistani troops have used brute force to end the peaceful agitation spearheaded by the civil society group Joint Awami Action Committee (JAAC).
The JAAC, which has called for Long March to protest rising inflation, unemployment, government policies and abolishing of 12 reserved seats of PoK Assembly, has been banned by the PoK government.
The ban on the civil society group has had no impact on the ground situation as people are heading its calls and thousands of people are marching to the PoK capital from different areas braving the bullets and tear gas shells being fired by the police and Pakistani troops.
According to media reports, more than 50 civilians and some policemen have been killed in the violent clashes so far.
The civilian killings have increased the anger among the local population, who have vowed to continue the agitation till their demands are met.
Media reports said thousands of protesters from Mirpur, Bhimber and Kotli districts in Mirpur Division, as well as Sudhnoti and parts of Poonch districts in Poonch Division, had converged on Eidgah Ground on the eastern outskirts of Rawalakot since Wednesday evening braving Pakistani troops gunfire and tear gas shells.
The reports said the authorities today disallowed the protestors from offering Friday prayers in the Eidgah ground.
Reports said the PoK government has reached out to JAAC leaders amid the ongoing crackdown against its leadership.
JAAC leader Umair Nazir Kashmiri has said the negotiations with the government were possible and claimed he had submitted a six-point petition to the authorities to facilitate talks.
The demands included the withdrawal of the Home Department notification proscribing JAAC, the return of the bodies of all deceased activists and injured persons, and the registration of FIRs regarding the killing of civilians and also withdrawal of paramilitary troops from urban areas and the lifting of the curfew before negotiations could begin.
Imtiaz Aslam, a JAAC core member from Kotli, said their peaceful sit-ins will continue until their detained activists are released, the bodies of activists are returned, and the notifications proscribing the Action Committee and announcing rewards for information leading to the arrest of four core members are withdrawn .
Reports said special police checkpoints have been established at four entry and exit points to PoJK from Rawalpindi district in the wake of violent protests and unrest in the sensitive region at Azad Patan, Kohala Murree, Holar Bridge, Dan Gali and Mangla.
The protests show no signs of slowing down. With internet blackouts limiting independent verification and Pakistan security forces heavily deployed across the region, the world's ability to see what is happening in Rawalakot remains severely restricted.
The crackdown has triggered a region-wide shutdown and drawn international condemnation. It has prompted political leaders and human rights groups in Jammu and Kashmir and parliamentarians in the United Kingdom to demand UN intervention to prevent further bloodshed in PoK.
Meanwhile, Pakistan was slammed for unjustly arresting journalists and curbing press freedom in PoK.
The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and its affiliate, the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ), condemned the use of legal harassment to prolong detention of digital journalist and YouTube host Sohrab Barkat and called for his immediate release.