Muzaffarabad (POJK), April 1 (NVI) In an effort to further consolidate its grip on the so-called ‘Azad Jammu and Kashmir’, its illegal occupant Pakistan is going to deploy tens of thousands of the paramilitary force ‘Rangers’, who will be under the command of senior Army officers.
The ostensible reason for such a move is to “control terrorism and public protests” and comes in the wake of growing resentment and resistance by the people of occupied Jammu and Kashmir, local sources told NVI.
Over the last one year, there has been a growing public movement under the banner of Joint Awami Action Committee for the basis rights of the people of occupied Jammu and Kashmir, like reasonable rates for electricity generated from the region and low prices for wheat.
There have been a series of agitational programmes for these basic rights across Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir but these have been peaceful, despite the brutal force used by the police and other security personnel on the protesters.
“The new move by the Pakistan government indicates that it wants to crush even these peaceful agitations with more brutal force,” said a source.
This move, which is illegal considering that POJK is an occupied territory, is facing strong opposition from the public.
Over the past one year, the Joint Awami Action Committee led by activist Shaukat Ahmed, has gained immense popularity and grown into a strong resistance movement, mainly because it is apolitical and gets support from across the political spectrum.
The Committee has now moved on from the basic rights to demands for economic and political autonomy of the region.
The Pakistani regime and its puppet system in POJK tried to use several tactics to break this movement but all the attempts failed.
In the wake of these failures, the Pakistani regime has come up with this plan of deploying Rangers in POJK.
Under the UN Security Council Resolutions, deployment of foreign forces like Rangers is illegal and violates the fundamental rights of the people of POJK.
Pakistan has tried such tactics earlier also but failed.
The people of POJK in 1954 displayed strong resistance when the Punjab Constabulary was deployed here, finally forcing the Pakistan government to find a political solution.
Last year too, Pakistan deployed around 600 personnel of the Punjab Constabulary, triggering a strong public reaction in Muzaffarabad and other places. The agitation resulted in the killing of 3 youth and damage to public property worth crores of rupees. (NVI)
