By Ajay Kaul
New Delhi, Sept 5 (NVI) A mass movement, which is effectively a revolt, against illegal Pakistani rule and oppression in occupied Jammu and Kashmir (POJK) has been going on for the last three months and intensifying with each passing day.
What began as an agitation for the due rights of the locals for cheaper electricity, subsidised wheat/flour and an end to Pakistani interference in political affairs has grown into a much bigger and wider uprising against Islamabad’s rule over the occupied region.
Pakistan had militarily occupied these parts of Jammu and Kashmir in October 1947 through an invasion.
Under the banner of Jammu and Kashmir Joint Awami Action Committee (JAAC), a conglomerate of several local non-political organisations, lakhs of people have been staging unabated and day-and-night protest demonstrations and rallies for the last 90 days.
The people of the POJK, who have remained subdued and submissive for the last 78 years of Pakistani occupation, have finally resolved to chart their political future by breaking the chains of subjugation.
A clear evidence in this regard, besides the repeated public declarations by the movement leaders, is the determination of the Kashmiris to see an end to the quota of 12 seats in 53-member POJK Assembly reserved for so-called ‘refugees of Jammu and Kashmir living in Pakistan’.
The voters and candidates of these 12 controversial seats are dubious and linked to Pakistani establishment, i.e, the Pakistani military.
Thus, these 12 seats form the key for the Pakistani establishment to make or break the local governments in POJK, amounting to gross interference in the political affairs of the occupied region.
Pakistan has been making desperate and brutal attempts to crush the agitation. Its military has resorted to blatant firing on peaceful people, including devotees offering ‘Namaz’ at mosques.
In these brutal actions, more than 100 unarmed Kashmiris, including children and women, have been killed, thousands have been wounded and over 1,000 detained.
The Pakistani military has captured or shut down medical facilities, like hospitals, clinics and medical stores.
It has also imposed an economic blockade on POJK, disallowing supplies of even food grains and medicines into the region.
Other brutal measures include closure of roads, markets, schools, banks, and transport, affecting more than three million people.
But all these extreme oppressive measures over the last 90 days have failed to break the steely resolve of the people who continue to protest in large numbers and peacefully.
Now, videos have surfaced on social media, showing civilian protesters preparing for confrontation with sharpened wooden sticks as means of defence against Pakistani security forces who use automatic weapons on them.
It is increasingly becoming clear that people of Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir are not willing to suffer subjugation anymore and are ready to do take on the occupying regime head on.
The people of POJK are sending a message to Pakistan and signals to the world outside.
In fact, the leaders of the agitation have already spoken about seeking help from India.
The biggest hypocrisy of Pakistan is that it calls the region ‘Azad (independent) Kashmir’ and for decades, it has been claiming, at global forums, to be the “voice” and “messiah” of Kashmiris.
But when the same Kashmiris in the territories under its occupation demand their due rights, what does Pakistan do? It sends lakhs of military personnel to carry out brutalities on peaceful people.
When the current movement started on June 5, Pakistan rushed tens of thousands of military personnel, adding to lakhs of those already present in POJK, with orders to crush the agitation with extreme force.
As its measures so far have failed to suppress the movement, Pakistan has recently sent in at least 5,000 more military personnel, including Army and paramilitary Rangers, along with armoured vehicles into POJK.
This is Pakistan’s definition of “Azad Kashmir”. (NVI)
