Muzaffarabad | Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: The government on Thursday decided to extend the Murree Expressway by 70 kilometres to Muzaffarabad during a National Highway Authority (NHA) meeting chaired by Communications Minister Abdul Aleem Khan. Work on the road has been ongoing under Khan’s tenure, including when he visited the expressway last November to review beautification, rehabilitation and improvement works along the route. According to the communications ministry, Khan presided over the meeting to review the authority’s financial close and map out strategic infrastructure priorities for the current fiscal year. In a decision aimed at boosting regional connectivity, the minister announced a 70km extension of the Murree Expressway (N-75) to Muzaffarabad. The expansion will effectively connect Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) to Pakistan’s main motorway and expressway network, providing residents with a modern, high-speed and safer travel facility. The minister said the extension marked the beginning of a modern era of safe transit for th...

MUZAFFARABAD: Traders and transporters in Muzaffarabad division announced on Saturday that markets and public transport would resume normal operations from Sunday after the administration assured them of security and uninterrupted fuel supplies, signalling the first major break in the shutdown observed during the ongoing agitation in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK). At a joint press conference at Central Press Club, representatives of traders’ bodies and the transporters’ union also distanced themselves from the recently proscribed Joint Awami Action Committee (JAAC). They alleged that the movement, which they had initially backed over public issues such as subsidised electricity and flour, had deviated from its original objectives after June 9 and was now pursuing a political and constitutional agenda beyond the mandate of traders and transporters. The regional administration and the JAAC have been at odds over the past month over various issues, most notably the committee’s demand to abolish the 12 seats in th...

No survivors were reported after an Mi-17 helicopter of Pakistan Army Aviation crashed near Muzaffarabad on Wednesday during take-off “due to a technical fault”, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said. Rescue and recovery teams immediately reached the crash site. “All personnel on board embraced martyrdom. There were no survivors,” the ISPR said in a statement. “A board of inquiry has been ordered to ascertain the exact technical cause of the accident,” the military’s media affairs wing said. Chief of Defence Forces (CDF) and Chief of the Army Staff Field Marshal Asim Munir, along with all ranks of the army, expressed “deep grief over the tragic loss of precious lives and extended heartfelt condolences to the bereaved families”, the ISPR said. Smoke billows after a Pakistan Army Aviation Mi-17 helicopter crashed near Muzaffarabad, Azad Jammu and Kashmir on June 10, 2026. — Reuters The army’s aviation wing began operating Russian-made Mi-17 transport helicopters in the late 1990s. Mi-17s are considere...

An Pakistan Army Aviation Mi-17 helicopter crashed near Muzaffarabad on Wednesday during take-off due to a reported technical fault, according to the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR).

MUZAFFARABAD: Shops and markets were largely shut and vehicular traffic remained minimal in Muzaffarabad, the capital of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK), on Tuesday as the newly proscribed Joint Awami Action Committee (JAAC) observed a strike. Meanwhile, AJK Prime Minister Faisal Mumtaz Rathore urged a return to the negotiating table in a bid to end the tensions that have gripped the region over the past few days. During the day, Muzaffarabad’s streets were deserted, with hardly any vehicles on the roads. Riot police and paramilitary personnel remained deployed in the city. However, no demonstrations were witnessed in the capital. Meanwhile, reports from Mirpur said that hundreds of people had gathered in the town’s Quaid-i-Azam stadium. “Shops are closed here and traffic is off the roads,” local journalist Sajjad Jarral told Dawn by telephone. Witnesses in Kotli said that while the area observed a complete shutter-down and wheel-jam strike, hundreds of people led by JAAC core member Imtiaz Aslam were heading to...

MUZAFFARABAD - At least two people died and several others injured after protesters clashed with police in Muzaffarabad on Monday.

At least six members of a family were feared dead after a massive landslide buried their home in Azad Jammu and Kashmir’s (AJK) Muzaffarabad district on Thursday, while torrential rains claimed the lives of two more women in Bagh and Sudhnoti districts, officials said. Monsoon rains, which fall across the region from June to September every year, continue to lash many parts of the country. Starting in late June, Monsoon rains have wreaked havoc across the country in the past month by triggering deadly floods, landslides and displacement, particularly in vulnerable, poorly drained, or densely populated areas. At least 313 people, including 142 children, have died and 740 others have been injured in flash floods and torrential rains that have battered several parts of Pakistan since late June, according to updated daily data from the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA). The incident occurred in Nariyah Behak, part of Sarli Sacha village northwest of Muzaffarabad, where a cloudburst sent a wall of wate...

Minister of State for Interior Talal Chaudhry announced on Tuesday the successful dismantling of a major network involved in the sexual exploitation of children, operating out of Muzaffarabad.