Protests over rights and polls intensify as security forces face scrutiny over crackdown
International attention is just being drawn to the situation in Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir, where a security crackdown has been ordered against protesters. Reports have it that over 90 people have died in the region since the latest round of protests began gathering momentum in early June, of whom over 20 may have been killed since the Azad Jammu Kashmir legislative assembly polls began early this week.
Given Pakistan’s record in dealing with civil movements protesting about misrule and the denial of fundamental rights, etc., it is small wonder that a high death rate is inextricably associated with how the nation’s forces enforce law and order.
Even so, it is not in India’s interest to attempt any sort of intervention into what is happening across the Line of Control beyond pointing to the world Pakistan’s record in human rights and its propensity to put down any movement against the establishment that is heavily backed by the Army under its much-vaunted field marshal Asim Munir.
India did comment that the protests are a direct consequence of Islamabad’s systematic exploitation over decades of the people and their continuous oppression in a territory which it wished to remind was being illegally occupied by Pakistan. It is a comment on the prevalent attitude against protesters that they have been equated with India to be considered as “enemies”, as articulated by defence minister Khawaja Asif.
Elections to the assembly provided the spark for the most recent wave of protests in which the Joint Awami Action Committee (JAAC), which is spearheading the movement, has been demanding the abolition of 12 legislative seats in the assembly that are reserved for Kashmiri refugees living on the Pakistan side of the border.
Talks with federal ministers and the PoK administration having failed, the committee has been in the forefront of the agitation, backing calls for boycott of the polls and the administration has taken a tough stand against those who wished to boycott the elections. The integrity of the polls is also questionable given Pakistan’s despair to control the disputed territory. Pakistan has never been known to worry about human rights when it comes to handling restive regions.
