Amid the Lok Sabha polls in India, protests demanding to merge Pakistan’s illegal occupation of India’s territory have snowballed into widespread public unrest. While India has, time and again, remained resolute in calling POJK an integral part of India, locals in Pakistan-Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (PoJK) are confronting the Pakistan Government for the harsh economic conditions and taxes forcibly imposed by the government. As clashes ensued between the security forces in Pakistan and the protestors, mostly youngsters from Muzaffarabad, Mirpur, and parts of POJK, political activists appealed to India to focus on Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir. Amjad Ayub Mirza said that “India must not follow in the footsteps of previous regimes by ignoring PoJK”. BYTE: video 4: 0.34 to 0.51 S. Jaishankar, External Affairs Minister
The leaders denounced the use of force by law enforcement agencies against demonstrators in Muzaffarabad and Mirpur divisions on Friday and Saturday, which resulted in injuries and heightened tensions in various other districts.
While expressing solidarity with the people in their struggle for basic rights, the Awami Workers Party (AWP) condemned the recent crackdown on protesters in POJK. In a statement issued by AWP President Akhtar Hussain, General Secretary Dr. Bakhshal Thalho, Jammu and Kashmir Awami Workers Party Chairman Nisar Shah, and AWP Gilgit-Baltistan chairman Baba Jan, it said that “The AWP leadership is deeply concerned about the deployment of paramilitary forces in AJK and the subsequent use of repressive tactics, including the arbitrary arrest of hundreds of political activists. Such actions only serve to incite further unrest among the populace.”
Earlier, the peaceful demonstration transformed into unrest after Pakistan police initiated a violent crackdown on the demonstrators, injuring the protestors.
Amid heightened tensions, the violence orchestrated by Pakistan authorities against the peaceful protesters in PoJK was also condemned by political activist Amjad Ayub Mirza, who stated that injustices by Pakistan and its law enforcement agencies are “intolerable”. Mirza also sought help from the Indian government and appealed to them to focus on the region which is an “integral part of India”. BYTE: video 7: start to 0.35 Amjad Ayub Mirza, Political Activist
Pertinently, it was against the injustices perpetrated by the Pakistan government in PoJK that the Jammu Kashmir Joint Awami Action Committee took out protests. The “azadi” movement aims to press the government to comply with an agreement inked back in February, a pact crucial for the welfare of the region.
The committee has been at the forefront of the rights movement, vehemently opposing the ‘unjust’ taxes levied on electricity bills, and had held a similar shutter-down strike over the taxes in August 2023.
The demonstrators took over PoJK chanting slogans of ‘Azadi’ and demanding that electricity tariffs must align with the production costs of hydel power, nonetheless, the Pakistan government has been levying excessive taxes on electricity. Protesting against inflation, the scarcity of essential commodities like flour and wheat, excessive power cuts, rising unemployment, and chronic infrastructural neglect, the demonstrators have revealed that the Pakistan administration remains dismissive of their plight despite longstanding grievances, and is not paying heed to the protestors demands.
In order to protest against the police’s violent crackdown against the demonstrators who detained over 70 activists, the Jammu Kashmir Joint Awami Action Committee announced that it would hold a “shutter-down and wheel-jam” strike in PoJK after Pakistan police detained.
A local leader among the crowd voiced the community’s frustration, condemning the aggressive tactics used by law enforcement agencies against PoJK. They added that the residents of PoJK have been peacefully demanding their basic rights, like subsidies on flour and wheat. However, the protestors are suppressed by the Pakistani authorities through shelling and baton charges, resulting in several getting injured, while others are harassed.
Meanwhile, PM Shebaz Sharif wrote on microblogging platform X that he was “deeply concerned” about the situation, and urged all the parties to resort to a peaceful course of action for the resolution of the demands.
Pertinently, Pakistan has been reeling under back-breaking inflation for long, which has been worsened by the stringent conditions imposed by the International Monetary Fund while approving a $3-billion financial assistance package. The increase in electricity charges added to the problems, forcing people in Pakistan to take to the streets.
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