Demonstrations in support of Hamas continue across Pakistan, and protesters are urging the United Nations to stop Israeli forces from chasing Hamas terrorists into Gaza tunnels.
However, in their own country, they pretend not to notice or care as the Pakistani military commits genocide against Baloch and Pashtuns. Just as they call the rape of Israeli girls a lie, they dismiss the kidnapping and rape of Baloch, Pashtun, and Kashmiri women by Pakistani soldiers as a myth spread by the country’s enemies.
The same Pakistanis who bleed their tonsils screaming about atrocities in Indian Kashmir are silent when their own military and police are shooting and killing Muslim civilians in Dodhyal, Muzaffarabad, and other parts of Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir (POJK). This double standard has made Pakistanis a laughing stock on the global stage.
Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir (POJK) consists of two territories: Mirpur-Muzaffarabad and Gilgit-Baltistan. The Awami (People’s) Action Committee (AAC) is an umbrella organization representing Mirpur-Muzaffarabad and Gilgit-Baltistan. AAC in both parts has been protesting for months, demanding genuine constitutional autonomy, affordable food and electricity, protection of local lands and natural resources, the resumption of travel and trade across the Line of Control in Ladakh and Jammu-Kashmir, and the restoration of civil rights such as freedom of speech and political activity. Pakistan’s rulers have long accused AAC activists of dissent and terrorism, arresting and torturing many of them.
When the AAC called for a complete shutdown and wheel jam strike in Mirpur-Muzaffarabad on May 11 to raise awareness about injustices, Pakistani authorities dispatched Punjab Police, Punjab Rangers, and Frontier Constabulary to crush the protestors. Subsequently, law enforcement used tear gas and baton charges in Dodhyal town, killing a schoolgirl and injuring many civilians, including minors.
Paramilitary and police personnel also fired live bullets at the protesters. One protester belonging to Mirpur was hit in the stomach and critically injured. Another protester drowned in the river while attempting to avoid a baton charge. Let’s compare this situation with Indian Ladakh, where tens of thousands of locals recently held a six-month-long protest for land rights without fear of police attack or arrest.
The AAC leaders whom the authorities had invited to negotiate on May 10 were apprehended upon arrival and taken to an unknown location for torture. This is an old tactic that Pakistani occupiers have used against activists in Balochistan and Gilgit. The authorities conducted mass arrests to prevent hundreds of AAC protestors and activists from arriving in Muzaffarabad.
This astounded many around the world since the occupiers preferred to use iron fists on unarmed people who were simply asking for access to electricity and affordable food. While turning the entire POJK into a battleground, authorities shut down phones and the internet to broaden and intensify the crackdown. As the situation deteriorated, the Pakistani government dispatched six additional batches of police and paramilitaries from Punjab.
The next day, on May 13, Pakistani paramilitaries opened fire on protesters in Muzaffarabad, killing seven and injuring more than 180. Some local social media accounts claim that the death toll has surpassed 20.
According to video evidence, many local law enforcement officers resigned after refusing to attack their own people. They couldn’t bear the thought of shelling, torturing, and imprisoning unarmed civilians who have been denied basic necessities like clean water, electricity, schools, health care, and three meals per day for the past 76 years.
As of now, the colonial masters have imposed a three-month emergency and lockdown in POJK. Despite this, thousands gathered on the streets of Rawalakot to condemn Pakistan’s government and military for state-led terrorism, extortion, and civilian kidnappings and killings. Tens of thousands of people gathered on the streets of Muzaffarabad at night to demand the immediate withdrawal of Pakistanis and the subsequent merger of POJK with the Kashmir Valley.
Meanwhile, people are still arriving from Palandari, Hattian, Kotli, Bagh, Bhimber, Neelum, and Mirpur to join the sit-in protest. Locals have set fire to several government vehicles that had been used to block roads.
Ironically, the international media is ignoring this significant event. The White House and the US State Department, which claim to care about global Muslim rights, are also silent on the imprisonment, beating, and killing of oppressed Muslims in POJK.
The timing of Pakistani brutality against the people of POJK is uncanny, as residents of Indian Jammu and Kashmir are voting to send representatives to the Indian parliament this same week. On May 13, while the people of Srinagar, Shopian, and Ganderbal were voting in a peaceful environment, Pakistani paramilitaries shot and killed seven people in cold blood in POJK. While long lines formed in front of polling stations in Srinagar, POJK residents, on the other hand, spent their day pelting stones at a large contingent of Pakistani police and soldiers. Locals say that Pakistan uses terrorism to control ethnic and religious minorities, while India promotes civility, peaceful dialogue, and participation in the democratic and development processes.
Many believe that the removal of Article 370 of the Indian constitution has taken the veto away from Pakistan-backed terrorists, thereby restoring peace to the Kashmir valley. The resulting peace has also helped boost voter turnout in Srinagar, with an upward turn from 14% in 2019 to nearly 40% in 2024.
Locals in POJK are outraged due to a lack of basic rights, but Pakistan wishes to portray this agitation as an Indian initiative. On May 9, the Pakistani intelligence (ISI) personnel raised an Indian flag in POJK to rally Pakistani citizens against AAC activists and justify the crackdown.
Pakistan occupies 20 districts of the former princely state of Jammu and Kashmir, and the rulers have failed miserably to meet the basic needs of these districts’ residents. Last year, India announced a budget of more than $12 billion for Jammu and Kashmir, whereas Pakistan lacks even essential resources to provide its citizens with an uninterrupted supply of wheat and electricity. One of the most pressing issues is high unemployment. In Gilgit-Baltistan, the military reserves certain types of jobs for Punjabis, which even an unskilled tenth grader can learn and perform.
While India spends billions of dollars on development in Jammu and Kashmir, the Pakistani government is constantly looking for reasons to reduce subsidies and the development budget for POJK. Pakistan’s Minister for Kashmir Affairs visited Gilgit this week to announce a two billion rupee budget cut.
POJK provides more than half of Pakistan’s water for irrigation and electricity generation, yet it denies POJK residents a steady supply of electricity and clean drinking water. Pakistan, with Chinese assistance, has illegally built mega dams near Gilgit, Chilas, Palandari, and Muzaffarabad, all the while denying usage compensation and river water royalties to POJK.
Pakistan uses paramilitaries to encroach on POJK lands that are being given to the Chinese for farming and mining. The scarcity of affordable wheat and other food items has driven many people to commit suicide.
China-built dams supply electricity to Pakistan’s grid at the expense of causing damage to the local irrigation system and agriculture. Dam construction is depleting local biodiversity and drying up river beds. Students in POJK suffer the most from a lack of electricity. Hospitals cannot run operating rooms without electricity. Residents are being displaced, and local cultures and languages are dying as a result of the ethnic demographic shift. People in Gilgit-Baltistan, the majority of whom are Shia, live in constant fear because Shias are frequently arrested for blasphemy for performing routine rituals.
Pakistan accuses India of stealing river waters. However, Pakistan is conveniently ignoring the fact that China has built dozens of dams on the Indus River inside Tibet, causing the river to dry up before it reaches Indian Ladakh. Pakistan’s reliance on China for economic and strategic reasons forces it to ignore the environmental and social consequences of China’s policies.
Nonetheless, Pakistan believes it has the means to seize the remaining 22 districts of Jammu Kashmir and Ladakh from India. Pakistan’s obsession with gaining control of Indian Jammu Kashmir defies logic, as the POJK it currently controls is slipping away at the hands of the dishonest, selfish, and greedy ruling elite.
Seventy-six years ago, Pakistan’s rulers used Islam to entice the people of Jammu and Kashmir to join their newly formed country. They promised it would be a land of milk and honey. Today, it is an autocratic Islamic Republic where rulers prefer to brutalize citizens rather than grant them basic rights, and the military murders innocents for demanding electricity and affordable food items.
POJK residents have realized their ancestors’ mistakes in choosing Pakistan. It is only a matter of time before the POJK reintegrates with Jammu and Kashmir to reclaim long-due constitutional rights.
Senge Sering
Senge Sering is a native of Pakistan-occupied-Gilgit-Baltistan and runs the Washington DC based Gilgit Baltistan Studies
