By Ajay Kaul
Over the last nearly 8 decades, Pakistan has been spending billions of dollars and going around the world to spread canards that “Kashmiris are being oppressed by India”.
It has been misleading the world by claiming that human rights of people in Jammu and Kashmir in India are being violated.
To spread this false narrative, Pakistan has been roping in the pliable and subservient Kashmiris on both sides of the Line of Control (LoC) to parrot what the regime of Islamabad tells them to.
As a result, some countries and groupings like Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) tend to get influenced and issue statements regarding Jammu and Kashmir as it did recently.
This is actually a tactic of Pakistan to divert attention from the horrendous brutalities it has been committing in the territories of Jammu and Kashmir under its illegal occupation, known as Pakistan-occupied Jammu Kashmir (POJK).
Those territories were militarily annexed by Pakistan through an invasion launched on October 22, 1947 while the then ruler of the princely State of Jammu and Kashmir Hari Singh was in the process of deciding whether to accede with the Indian Union or the Pakistani Dominion.
In the midst of the Pakistani invasion, Hari Singh signed the Treaty of Accession on October 26, 1947 and the next morning Indian troops landed in Kashmir to join Kashmiris in flushing out the invaders.
However, while the flushing out operation was still underway, the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) directed a ceasefire, as a result of which Pakistan continues to occupy one-third of the territories of Jammu and Kashmir.
Since then, Pakistan has been committing extreme forms of oppression against the people of POJK, compelling the Muslim population of the region to suffer silently.
Pakistan has been claiming that it “stands with Kashmiris” but the reality is that it the worst kind of tormentor of Kashmiris.
Under the farcical mask of “Kashmir is our jugular vein”, Pakistan has been denying even the proper basic needs and rights to the people of POJK. They suffer due to the worst kinds of education system and medical infrastructure, not to talk about the lack of physical connectivity like proper roads. Railway is non-existent.
The people of POJK envy and yearn for the top class education, medical and infrastructure available in Jammu and Kashmir in India.
The people of POJK get extremely disappointed when they see lots and lots of good quality schools, colleges and professional institutions, in Jammu and Kashmir in India.
The people of POJK pity their bad luck when they see top quality road networks and modern trains running in Jammu and Kashmir in India.
Finally, they have decided they have had enough and have risen against the Pakistani regime.
They are no longer ready to struggle with poor infrastructure, inadequate services, economic hardship and a system that keeps failing them.
They want roads, hospitals, education, connectivity, investment, tourism, jobs and overall welfare.
For the last five months, the people of POJK have been staging unprecedented mass unabated protests, which see participation of lakhs in numbers, including women, children and elderly.
Pakistan has been trying to crush the agitation through the use of brutal force, including direct firing from assault rifles, in which over 100 peaceful protesters have been killed and around 1,000 injured since June 5.
Pakistan has also enforced a blockade of essential supplies, including food and medicines, and has shut down hospitals and clinics.
The Pakistani forces have also been carrying out oppressive crackdown on the leaders and activists of J&K Joint Awami Action Committee (JAAC), which is a conglomerate of several non-political organisations of POJK.
The Pakistani forces have even attacked mosques and madrassas and targeted the Muslim devotees offering prayers there.
But the people of POJK have vowed not to cow down and are ready to make it the final battle.
“If one day I have to die from disease because of bad infrastructure, why should I be afraid of dying by a bullet?” This is what one young protester said, summing up the mood.
Ironically, the Islamic countries, which claim to be the champions of Muslims worldwide, have remained mute spectators to the genocide being carried out against the subjugated Muslims in POJK.
OIC, which is a grouping of 57 Islamic countries, has been turning a blind eye to the oppression being committed by Pakistan in POJK.
The people of POJK, including their diaspora, have been making fervent appeals to the OIC and other international bodies to intervene to stop Pakistan from committing the barbarity against them. But, it seems, for OIC, Muslims of POJK do not exist.
But how long can Pakistan hide the reality? It is just a matter of time that it will get exposed.
