The United Nations Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances has taken up the case of Shoukat Nawaz Mir, a resident of Muzaffarabad and a leader of the Joint Awami Action Committee (JAAC), under its urgent action procedure, the Jammu Kashmir Human Rights Observatory (JKHRO) has said.
In a communication dated 11 November 2026, the Working Group’s Chair-Rapporteur, Grazyna Baranowska, informed the observatory that the case was considered during the Working Group’s 140th session and transmitted to the Government of Pakistan on 23 September 2026. The case is registered as Case No. 10017638.
According to JKHRO, the Working Group expressed the hope that appropriate investigations would be carried out to clarify Mr Mir’s fate and whereabouts and to protect his rights. It also confirmed that any information received from the Government of Pakistan would be shared with the observatory.
Mr Mir was reportedly detained on 30 June 2026 while travelling towards a sit-in in Rawalakot, and taken to an undisclosed location, according to the information submitted to the United Nations. His family says they have had no contact with him since, and approached the High Court of Azad Jammu and Kashmir in July seeking his production before the court. JKHRO says he was not produced before the court on the hearing dates recorded in the UN case summary, and that as of 12 November his whereabouts, physical condition, place of detention and legal status remain undisclosed.
The two sides give sharply different accounts. The family maintains that Mr Mir was arrested and is being held without disclosure of any warrant, legal basis or place of detention. The government and police have told the court that he is not in their custody, and that he is wanted in cases registered in Rawalakot, Bagh and Muzaffarabad and is evading arrest, according to regional media reports. At the time of the reported arrest, the Muzaffarabad deputy commissioner was reported to have confirmed the detention, the reports said.
JKHRO has called on the authorities to disclose Mr Mir’s fate and whereabouts without delay, produce him before a competent court, give his family and legal representatives access to him, disclose the legal basis for any detention, ensure his safety, and conduct an independent investigation. The observatory itself notes that the UN intervention does not amount to a judicial finding of responsibility, but places the case formally before the Government of Pakistan and calls for a credible response.
