Jammu and Kashmir continues to remain calm and peaceful with
the process of reorganisation moving ahead smoothly but Pakistan is facing
upheaval in Pakistan Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (POJK), the territories of the
erstwhile princely state of Jammu and Kashmir that are under Pakistan’s illegal
occupation.
October 22 is marked as “Black Day” by the people
of the POJK. On this day in 1947 the perfidious and brutal Razakars
(mercenaries) from Pakistan invaded the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir
with full support of the Pakistan Army.
Earlier, a few dozen people used to come out to
register a weak protest on October 22. What was different this year was the
intensity. A number of political parties under an umbrella organisation
named All Independent Parties Alliance (AIPA) came out to protest and the number of people on the street was in thousands.
The
police force responded with unprecedented brutality. The largely peaceful rally
was tear-gassed and Lathi (Baton)
charged. The outcome of this unnecessary and brutal use of force by the police
was the death of two innocent civilians, even as more than 80 sustained serious
injuries.
One
big reason behind this action by the security forces was the presence in the
area of a large number of foreign diplomats and journalists whom the Pakistan
Army had invited to the occupied territories to prove that there are no terror
camps being operated from this region. Obviously, the authorities did not want
these foreign dignitaries to see the protests and hence the tearing need to
scuttle the demonstrations with overpowering use of force.
Masood Khan, the titular and toothless President of the
so-called “Azad Jammu and Kashmir,” was quick to come out in support of his
masters by terming the vicious police action as a “preventive measure.” He also
resorted to India-bashing by saying that the police response was restrained as compared
to that used by Indian forces on the other side of the line. It would be
difficult for a stooge like him, who is selling his people to stay in power, to
understand that as President it is his duty to protect his people from atrocity
and not carry out comparisons with others. A high ranking military officer had
the audacity to term the protestors as “Indian Agents,” little realising that
by saying so he was acknowledging that the region has many who have a leaning
towards India, thus negating the very concept of “Azaadi” on which this
occupation stands.
As expected, the protests and the civilian casualties hardly
found any mention in the Pakistani media. The region is behind an iron curtain
from where no news leaks out. While in India the blocking of Internet facility
is a temporary measure, in POJK the communication is totally restricted or is under
close scrutiny of the government intelligence agencies.
Not satisfied with treating innocent civilians
like common criminals the Pakistani security forces blatantly attacked
journalists of the region. On October 22, while a media briefing by Jammu Kashmir People’s National Alliance (JKPNA)
was underway at the press club in Muzaffarabad, the police barged in, beat up the journalists mercilessly
and broke their expensive equipment. According to the news agency, ANI, visuals from outside the press club showed police firing tear gas
shells and lathi-charging the journalists as well as breaking their recording
equipment. It is reported that many journalists were seriously injured. The
objective, quite clearly, was to intimidate them into submission and thus
ensure that no credible news goes out. The very next day these journalists took to the streets to protest against this raid and openly raised slogans against the
security forces.
There are many voicing their condemnation and displeasure at
the state of affairs. While making it known that “Muzaffarabad POJK is
burning,” Senge Sering, a US-based activist from Gilgit-Baltistan has
elucidated on social media the curfew like situation in Muzaffarabad with
journalists being beaten up and women pouring out in the streets calling the
Pakistan Army as a bunch of hooligans and terrorists. He then goes on to ask,
“Now, where are those 15,000 “British Kashmiris” who attacked Indian
Embassy in London to show love for their homeland? They were carrying flags of
POJK in their hands. Now that POJK is burning, they seem to have lost the
address of Pakistan Embassy in London…..”
The Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) has condemned the Pakistani
security forces for “brutal manhandling” of a peaceful protest against
oppression and atrocities by state agencies. It
also appealed to the foreign diplomats to take notice of the barbarism and called
upon human rights organisations to step forward for the sake of humanity.
Journalists of the international magazine New York Times, who
were granted rare access to the region, found a “toughening Pakistani security
response to a growing pro-independence movement there.”
The writing on the wall is clear – the people
of POJK are fed up with the brutal subversion of their basic rights and virtual
colonisation by the federal government of Pakistan and the Pakistan Army. They
are fearlessly demanding freedom from the illegal occupation by Pakistan. They
want to rid themselves of political stooges like Masood Khan who take office
only after swearing allegiance to Pakistan and then function in subservience to
the draconian Ministry of Kashmir Affairs of the federal government of Pakistan.
The people want fresh elections with equal right to pro-freedom candidates. They are also demanding a separate constitutional
assembly and unification with Gilgit-Baltistan.
The bubble
of Pakistan’s much vaunted sympathies with the Kashmiri people has burst good
and proper. There remains no doubt that the country has a single objective of
milking the Kashmiris’ of their rich resources and throwing the people back
into the medieval ages. The international community has also seen through
Pakistan’s game plan and is now openly questioning its illegal and suppressive
actions in POJK. India, in particular, needs to
mobilise all means – political, diplomatic and otherwise, to ameliorate the
poor condition of the people of POJK, more so, since they are citizens of the
country under foreign occupation.
