New Delhi, Aug 2 (IANS) Decades of neglect in the Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir (PoK) is snowballing into a movement that may have similarities with the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War, according to a media report.
The region recently came into the spotlight following police crackdown against civilian demonstrators.
PoK, over the past few years, has been engulfed in unrest, driven by a grassroots movement over economic hardships and entrenched political structures, geopolitics commentator Ravi Verma wrote in ‘The Secretariat’.
He mentioned that the Jammu Kashmir Joint Awami Action Committee (JAAC), a coalition of traders, activists, and civil society groups, has been spearheading the protests since 2023, and the economic grievances have evolved into a broader political struggle.
The current protests in the region have been largely triggered by soaring inflation, high electricity tariffs, and high costs for staple subsidised goods.
Moreover, only one hospital for 1.5 lakh people, and 50 per cent of PoK’s population lacking access to clean drinking water, leading to over 3,000 deaths annually from waterborne diseases, have all added fuel to the public anger.
Verma notes in the report that the construction of the Mangla Dam led to the “displacement of over 100,000 residents” of PoK, and despite that, 80 per cent of the electricity generated from it is sent to Pakistan, leaving PoK with a severe power shortage.
Further, the region suffered environmental damage from the dam, including soil erosion, more since the Pakistani military seized over 50,000 acres of agricultural land, repurposing it for military use or leasing it to large commercial entities.
“In the Jhelum Valley, 2,000 acres of fertile land have been converted into military installations. In Muzaffarabad, 5,000 acres of productive farmland have been repurposed for military purposes, further encroaching on the region’s agricultural base,” states ‘The Secretariat’ report.
Despite attracting over one million tourists annually, local businesses in PoK reportedly receive only 20 per cent of the tourism revenue.
Moreover, Verma stated in his report that the Pakistan military has been running terror camps in PoK through charity organisations such as the Falah-e-Insaniat Foundation (FIF), Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD), Idara Khidmat-e-Khalq, and Al-Rashid Trust.
The Indian government too has repeatedly called out the Islamic Republic for operating terrorist infrastructure in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, through active launch pads, training camps, and command hubs utilised by militant groups such as Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), and Hizbul Mujahideen.
Several of these infrastructures were destroyed by the Indian military during Operation Sindoor last year.
Additionally, PoK residents have been protesting against these terror infrastructures themselves.
“In 2019, a peaceful protest in Muzaffarabad was organised, with residents holding banners that read, ‘No more violence in our land’ or ‘We want peace, not militancy’,” Verma wrote.
–IANS
cg/vd
