Islamabad: The ongoing unrest in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK), which has left dozens dead so far, continues to intensify with thousands of protesters in Rawalakot on Tuesday declaring that time has come now to free the occupied region from Islamabad’s control.
During a massive protest rally held at the Eidgah Ground, people chanted slogans like “PoK is not part of Pakistan” and “We want freedom”, highlighting that what initially began as a genuine local resistance with demands for reforms has now transformed into an open call for independence from Pakistan’s long exercised political control over the occupied region.
Experts have repeatedly pointed out that the current political crisis in PoK underscores the deep disconnect between the local population and a “toothless” regional administration that remains entirely subservient to Islamabad.
They reckon that the Pakistani authorities’ decision to ban the Joint Awami Action Committee (JAAC) and deploy lethal force in the occupied territory reflects a broader military-driven strategy to suppress the growing unrest in the region.
In the videos that went viral on social media Tuesday, Sardar Aman Khan, a core member of the JAAC, told the huge gathering at Rawalakot that if Islamabad continues to crush the local resistance then people could even seek closer ties with India.
Khan said that PoK was not part of Pakistan and if the blockade on food supplies and other essential goods continued, then Islamabad could soon find itself in dire straits.
Several locals and members of Kashmiri diaspora also took to social media to highlight the growing atrocities of the Pakistani government in the occupied region.
“Even the government surveillance drones hovering over the Eidgah grounds in Rawalakot and the presence of artillery on the ground could not dampen the spirits of the people. This is a new era; the voice of rights cannot be suppressed by instilling fear in technology,” wrote Rubina Hussain on X while insisting that the oppression and repression being perpetrated by Pakistani forces must be stopped.
The unrest in PoK had intensified after Pakistani authorities outlawed the JAAC on June 5, branding the grassroots group as a “terrorist” organisation. Islamabad has long exercised political control over the region through Pakistan’s mainstream parties, which have dominated power for decades, while steadily shrinking the space for local political groups, a report in the ‘International Centre for Peace Studies’ highlighted recently.
According to the report, the party in power in Islamabad has consistently emerged victorious in elections in PoK and Pakistan-occupied Gilgit-Baltistan (PoGB), a pattern that, it argued, can hardly be dismissed as mere coincidence.
It highlighted that the “so-called democratic exercise of holding elections is merely a facade, as the conditions created by Islamabad compel locals to align with the party in power in Islamabad”.
Also, if the analysis that having the same party in power at both the federal and regional levels ensures better governance is true, then PoK should have emerged as one of the most developed regions. Instead, the region remains the “least developed and exploited,” much like PoGB, the report noted.
It further stressed that “interference and control of Islamabad on the local politics make it unlikely that it would be willing to make any change in the existing political structure” in PoK.
With the elections scheduled to be held in the region on July 27, it was becoming increasingly clear that the existing political structure would continue and the local government would remain under the control of Islamabad.
Highlighting that Pakistan’s military establishment is willing to go to any extent to preserve the existing order, even by resorting to a “killing spree”, the report said it was no surprise that the first instance of such large-scale violence by the Pakistani authorities in PoK was aimed at crushing local resistance against Islamabad.
Recently, the leader of JAAC, Shaukat Nawaz Mir, wrote on X that the “State has begun a massacre of our people in Rawalakot”.
(IANS)
