Islamabad, Aug 15 (IANS) The escalating unrest in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) - characterised by economic exploitation, political subjugation and periodic repression - exposes the operating model of Islamabad that lectures the world on Kashmir while illegally occupying the region, a report has stated.
For Pakistan’s establishment, the people in PoK are valued when they serve the narrative of Kashmir as an unfinished agenda with India. Yet when they raise demands for basic rights, they are portrayed as “enemies”. When electoral calculations require it, these people are suddenly recast as "patriots". Consistency appears to be a luxury Islamabad cannot afford, a report in ‘Khalsa Vox’ highlighted earlier this week.
The report argued that Islamabad’s latest reversal over the protests in PoK reflects desperation rather than statesmanship, underscoring its long-standing treatment of residents in the occupied territory as disposable subjects rather than equal citizens.
Just days after Pakistan’s Defence Minister Khawaja Asif labelled the demonstrators "enemies like India," Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s advisor Rana Sanaullah said that 99 per cent of those associated with the banned Joint Awami Action Committee are "our patriotic brothers."
"The sudden conversion from terrorists and traitors to patriotic kin tells you everything about the hollow, opportunistic character of the Pakistani state," the Khalsa Vox mentioned.
The report highlighted that for months, ordinary people in PoK have protested soaring prices, electricity tariffs, governance failures and a legislative system designed to keep real power in Islamabad’s hands. It stated that Pakistani parties have long used the 12 reserved “refugee” seats as a convenient means of installing compliant governments.
"When the Joint Awami Action Committee mobilised against this arrangement and broader neglect, the response was classic: ban the group under anti-terrorism laws, impose internet blackouts, deploy force, and open fire. Dozens of civilians have been killed. The toll since June stands at least at 90. Hospitals were reportedly taken over, medical help obstructed, and journalists kept out," the report detailed.
According to the report, the tragedy is compounded by the farce surrounding the so-called legislative elections in PoK, in which candidates are required to affirm their allegiance to Pakistan.
The report noted that the abrupt transformation of JAAC from “enemies” to “patriotic brothers” is not a sign of maturity or a willingness to learn, but rather exposes cynicism and weakness.
"A state that cannot treat its own occupied population with consistency or basic dignity has no moral standing to lecture anyone. The protests in PoK have ripped away the propaganda. What remains is a familiar, pathetic spectacle: a failing establishment that changes its language the moment power calculations demand it, leaving the dead and the disillusioned to pay the real price," it emphasised.
--IANS
scor/ksk/as
