‘PoK an integral part of India’: MEA says protests ‘natural consequences’ of Pakistani loot

Amid ongoing protests in Pakistan Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (PoJK) and violent crackdown, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on Friday said that POJK is an integral part of India and protests are a natural consequence of decadeslong loot by the Pakistani regime.

“We have seen reports on protests in several areas of Pakistan Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (POJK), including brutalities by Pakistani forces on innocent civilians. We believe that it is a natural consequence of Pakistan’s oppressive approach and its systemic plundering of resources from these territories, which remain under its forcible and illegal occupation. Pakistan must be held accountable for its horrific human rights violations,” said MEA Spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal.

For the past few days, the PoJK has been rocked by the violent crackdown of protests driven by the region’s political and economic complaints.

At least nine persons —six civilians and three police personnel— have been killed and authorities have said that over 220 people, including 172 police personnel and 50 civilians, have been injured, according to Pakistani outlet The News.

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While the history of demonstrations and unrest in PoJK is long, the current episode began on September 29 when the Jammu Kashmir Joint Awami Action Committee (JKJAAC), a civil society group, began a strike to protest over their 38-point agenda. The crackdown worsened after talks between JKAAC and the Pakistani regime broke down.

Pakistani media reports have said that shops, hotels, and commercial centres across Muzaffarabad, the capital of the PoJK, and public transport disappeared from the roads and schools were almost empty even though no formal holidays had been declared. Mobile and internet services had also been suspended.

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Since 1947-48, Pakistan has occupied parts of present-day union territories of J&K and Ladakh. Weeks after Independence, Pakistan invaded the princely state of J&K that also comprised Ladakh. Maharaja Hari Singh had not yet acceded to India. But once the invasion began, he acceded in exchange of Indian protection. While Indian forces stopped Pakistani forces from capturing Srinagar and largely repelled them, Pakistan ended up controlling around a third of J&K.

In recent years, protests in PoJK have risen about the region’s economic and political neglect and dissatisfaction over the exploitation of the region’s resources by Pakistan’s Punjab-based political and business elites.