NEW DELHI – Every year on February 5th, the Pakistani state apparatus goes into overdrive to mark the ‘Kashmir Solidarity Day’. It is a farce of choreographed rallies, passionate speeches in Islamabad, as well as a flood of press releases expressing eternal solidarity with the people of Kashmir. However, for the millions of people living under the actual Pakistani occupation in Pakistan Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (PoJ&K), this day is not a day of solidarity; it is a day of bitter reminder of a long-standing betrayal.
As Islamabad proclaims its “love” for Kashmir to the world, the reality in Muzaffarabad, Mirpur, and Gilgit is one of asphyxiation. The hypocrisy of this solidarity was exposed to the world in 2024 and 2025, not by India but by the people of PoJ&K themselves. When thousands of people poured out into the streets demanding their rights to affordable wheat, electricity, and dignity, they were not greeted by solidarity. They were greeted by tear gas, batons, and bullets from the very same forces that claim to safeguard them.
The Economics of Plunder
The most painful injury in PoJ&K is the deliberate economic looting that has reduced a mineral-rich region to a charity box. The tragedy is one of stark contrast. PoJ&K holds several large hydropower projects and thousands of megawatts of installed and planned capacity, yet local communities continue to face frequent load shedding and high electricity tariffs, despite living next to the very dams that feed Pakistan’s national grid. However, the people of PoJ&K, who have been displaced by the construction of mega-dams like Mangla, are left in darkness, forced to endure load-shedding and pay astronomical prices for their own electricity.
The situation in Gilgit-Baltistan is even more desperate. The region is being colonized in a modern-day fashion under the pretext of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). The region has lost tens of thousands of acres of its ancestral land to projects that provide no benefit to the people living there. The “Green Gold” of the region, its timber and minerals, are being smuggled out to Islamabad, while the people are left with roads that are falling apart and no constitutional status whatsoever. They are citizens in name only, ruled by a bureaucratic elite in Islamabad that considers their land only a strategic asset, not the homeland of human beings. While the most visible mass protests erupted in Azad Jammu and Kashmir, Gilgit-Baltistan has also witnessed sustained unrest in recent years, particularly over land rights, governance, and the absence of constitutional protections.
Puppet Politics and “Azad” Shackles
The politics of so-called “Azad” (Free) Kashmir are a textbook example of how deception is used to maintain control. The very constitution of the region requires every candidate to take an oath of allegiance to the accession of Kashmir to Pakistan, while effectively banning any candidate who can be labeled as a pro-independence or pro-autonomy party. The Prime Minister of PoJ&K is a mere figurehead. In reality, actual power rests with the Ministry of Kashmir Affairs and the military establishment in Rawalpindi.
This charade of democracy was further revealed by the repressive ‘Peaceful Assembly and Public Order Ordinance 2024’, which was aimed at quashing the rising civil disobedience movement. The government’s reaction to the Joint Awami Action Committee (JAAC) protests, arresting their leaders, cutting off internet access, and branding hungry people as “traitors”, is a slap in the face of the myth of freedom. Islamabad does not want empowered Kashmiris; it wants submissive subjects who can be used as props in its foreign policy propaganda.
A Tale of Two Kashmirs
The betrayal is highlighted even more starkly when one looks across the Line of Control. While PoJ&K is stuck in a time warp of neglect, Jammu and Kashmir is witnessing visible and structural change.
In J&K, tunnels and expressways are bridging distances and bringing commerce to remote valleys. Medical colleges and specialized hospitals are being established where none existed before, and tourism is being reimagined not merely as a seasonal benefit but as a globally competitive industry. The scrapping of Article 370 has undeniably placed the region on India’s development map. Women in J&K have gained property rights previously denied to them, and marginalized communities have found a stronger political voice.
Meanwhile, in PoJ&K, the only ‘development’ visible is the expansion of military cantonments. A single doctor in Muzaffarabad caters to nearly 4,000 patients–which is four times the WHO-recommended limit.
Additionally, students are forced to travel to Pakistani cities for higher education, often facing discrimination. Increasingly, the people of PoJ&K are voting with their feet and their voices and openly questioning why their side of the Line remains in darkness while the other side shines with investment and opportunity.
The ‘solidarity’ Pakistan offers is a suffocating embrace. It exploits the land while starving the people, preaches freedom abroad while enforcing a police state at home. As the protests in Muzaffarabad and Gilgit have shown, the fear that once silenced the population is fading. The hollow slogans no longer persuade the people of February 5th. They are asking a simple but dangerous question–if this is solidarity, what does betrayal look like? For the forgotten people of PoJ&K, the answer is clear. The real obstacle to their prosperity lies not across the border, but in the capital that claims to be their savior.
Ashu Mann
Ashu Mann is an Associate Fellow at the Centre for Land Warfare Studies. He was awarded the Vice Chief of the Army Staff Commendation card on Army Day 2025. He is pursuing a PhD in Defense and Strategic Studies at Amity University, Noida. His research focuses include the India-China territorial dispute, great power rivalry, and Chinese foreign policy.
- Ashu Mann#molongui-disabled-link
- Ashu Mann#molongui-disabled-link
- Ashu Mann#molongui-disabled-link
- Ashu Mann#molongui-disabled-link
