Security personnel cordon off a street during a protest by demonstrators of the Jammu Kashmir Joint Awami Action Committee on the outskirts of Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir on May 13, 2024.
| Photo Credit: AFP

India on May 17 said the protests witnessed in several parts of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) are a “natural consequence” of Islamabad’s continued policy of systemic plundering of resources from the region that remains under its “forcible and illegal” occupation.

India also asserted that the entire Union territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh “have been, are and shall always remain integral parts of India”.

Also read: The recent unrest in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir | Explained

Violent protests erupted in PoK over rising costs of food, fuel and essential utilities as Pakistan reels under a severe economic crisis.

“We have seen reports on protests in several areas of Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir,” external affairs ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said at his weekly media briefing.

He was responding to a question on the protests in PoK.

“We believe that it is a natural consequence of Pakistan’s continued policy of systemic plundering of resources from these territories which remain under its forcible and illegal occupation,” Mr. Jaiswal said.

“Such exploitative policies deny the local people, rights over their own resources and the benefits thereof,” he said.

“We reiterate that the entire Union territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh have been, are and shall always remain integral parts of India,” he added.

Two days ago, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar asserted that Pakistan-occupied Kashmir was, is and will always be part of India.

“I have no doubt in my own mind that someone living in PoK is comparing their situation with someone actually living in Jammu and Kashmir, saying that how is it that people today are actually progressing there,” he said.

Earlier this month, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said India will never give up its claim of PoK but it won’t have to capture it with force because its people, on their own, would want to be part of India after seeing the development in Kashmir.

“I think India will not have to do anything. The way the ground situation has changed in Jammu and Kashmir, the way the region is witnessing economic progress and the way peace has returned there, I think demands will emerge from people of PoK that they should merge with India,” he said.

“We will not have to use force to take PoK as people would say that we must be merged with India. Such demands are now coming,” he said.

The defence minister asserted that “PoK was, is, and will remain ours”.

Srinagar/New Delhi:

Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) has been hit by civilian unrest and a massive crackdown has been launched by the authorities to quell protests that have spread across the occupied region.

A police officer was killed and 90 others were injured in fresh clashes on Saturday.

The protests that started against inflation, high taxation, and electricity shortage have turned into a movement for rights and freedom across PoK.

Protesters have been shouting slogans for “azadi (freedom)”. They clashed with police and security agencies in Muzaffarabad and others districts.

The protests are spearheaded by Jammu and Kashmir Joint Awami Action Committee, with traders are on the forefront.

Dozens of leaders and members of the Action Committee have been arrested after they called the strike on Friday.

“There is going to be a complete shutter-down and wheel-jam strike observed across PoK and specifically in Muzaffarabad against the police brutality against our peaceful protesters in Dadyal,” said Saukat Nawaz Mir, chairman of the Traders Association Muzaffarabad and member of the Kashmir Joint Awami Action Committee, news agency IANS reported.

“I call on everyone to come out today and raise your voice for your rights,” he added as videos of locals demanding freedom from the Pakistani establishment went viral.

The committee had staged a similar protest in August 2023 as well.

“We reject imposition of taxes on electricity bills. Instead, we demand that electricity should be provided to consumers in accordance with the production cost of hydel power in the region,” said Shaukat Nawaz Mir.

On May 5, emphasising that PoK has always been a part of India, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar had said the “very sorry state of affairs” has continued because the earlier governments did not ensure Pakistan vacated the region after Independence.

“PoK has never been out of this country. It has always been a part of this country. There is a resolution of the Indian parliament that PoK is very much a part of India. Now, how did other people get control? Ab ho jaata hai (it happens) when you have someone who is not a responsible custodian of a house, an outsider will come and steal something,” Mr Jaishankar said during an interactive session in Odisha’s Cuttack.

“Here you have allowed another country… It was because we did not pursue the vacation of Pakistan from these territories in the early years of Independence that this very sorry state of affairs has continued. What will happen in the future is very difficult to tell. But, I always tell people one thing that today PoK is in the consciousness once again of the people of India. We had forgotten about it, we were made to forget about it, but it is back now, definitely,” he added.

It was not the first time Mr Jaishankar blamed the previous Congress governments for several problems that had emerged on the foreign policy front, post Independence. A week earlier in Hyderabad, he told a gathering that Sardar Patel had opposed India approaching the UN on the Kashmir issue, but India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru disregarded it.

With inputs from IANS

New Delhi:

The Pakistani government is carrying out a massive crackdown on residents in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, or PoK.

Reports from the troubled areas say the Pakistani authorities have been attacking civilians who have been protesting against heavy taxation, high inflation, and electricity shortage.

Repression in PoK is not new. The latest crackdown started when numerous protesters took out a march today. The Pakistan Rangers and the local police responded with firing tear gas, pellets, and bullets in the air.

Two protesters have died in the attack by the police and the paramilitary.

The march began as a peaceful protest, but when the forces responded with firing in the air and other potentially lethal means, the civilians turned on the police and a clash broke out.

Visuals of the clashes show policemen firing AK-47s in the air and even towards the crowds.

Students and women were seen crying in hospitals.

Sources said electricity generated in PoK areas have been diverted to other bigger cities of Pakistan, angering the locals.

The country is going through a massive funds crunch. It has been seeking funds from global agencies like the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.