Scores of former occupied govt’s employees and pensioners in Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir (PoJK) took to the streets in a desperate bid to have their voices heard, holding a sit-in protest to demand an increase in their pensions amid soaring inflation.
Sharing heart-wrenching accounts, the protesters stated that managing household expenses has become an uphill battle, with skyrocketing cost of living rendering their meagre pensions inadequate. Despite holding numerous demonstrations over the past year, their pleas have fallen on deaf ears, with the Pak establishment not willing to address their plight.
“It is a fact that the Prime Minister of PoJK cannot make any announcements on his own. This has to be done by the government of Pakistan, and for this, the budget is fixed,” said Raja Muhammad Mumtaz, one of the protesters, highlighting the region’s lack of autonomy and dependence on Islamabad.
The pensioners also demanded the implementation of a law that would ensure the transfer of pensions to widows or unmarried daughters in the event of a pensioner’s demise, a basic right that has been denied to them.
Frustration was palpable as another protester questioned the authorities’ indifference, “When we ask the officials to address our concerns, they turn their faces away, as if nobody should come to them, and they won’t say anything. This is our condition that we are forced to sit on roads. We are old. People passing by are watching us. But our rulers are not concerned to even hear us out.”
The protesters blamed the Occupied government for not only neglecting the welfare of the people in the backward region but also compounding their misery by passing on the economic losses faced due to policy paralysis.