POJK in revolt against Pakistan , subsidies, force refuse to work, eyeing their future with India

Prameyanews English

Published By : Bratati Baral | May 14, 2024 11:43 AM

The protestors have been fired upon  by Pakistani Rangers , killing three and wounding several others , leaving the POJK residents angry . They have risen in revolt against Pakistan and its establishment, refusing to  be placated by  subsidies announced by Pakistani government

Arun  Joshi

Pakistan  has unleashed a reign of terror in its occupied territories of  Jammu and Kashmir , where people are protesting   against heightened prices of wheat and inflated electricity bills without no electricity .The protestors have been fired upon  by Pakistani Rangers , killing three and wounding several others , leaving the POJK residents angry . They have risen in revolt against Pakistan and its establishment, refusing to  be placated by  subsidies announced by Pakistani government .

It is a beginning of a process of POJK snapping its ties with Pakistan , and returning to the Indian fold  to enjoy the real freedom and end from hunger and   atrocities of Pakistan army . It’s a beginning that would soon show the results as the people there are in no mood to relent or bow to the  atrocities of Islamabad- Rawalpindi

Things  deteriorated   in POJK  in preceding months , which Pakistan fondly calls “ Azad Kashmir” or “ Free Kashmir”  as the people are angry with Pakistani establishment and army . Pakistanis have started taking the people of the region for granted , inflicted  one misery after another . As of this was not enough that Pakistan army and spy agency ISI were using the PoJK territory to train and arm terrorists , drawn from various backgrounds, most of them criminals, Islamabad started imposing high taxes on power and raised the wheat prices much beyond the reach of  more than four million people .

The POJK residents  could not bear the brunt , and they  took to streets to protest against this highly discriminatory and harsh attitude of Pakistan government and army toward them . The protests were spontaneous and widespread , engulfing the whole territory . Pakistan government sought to quell the protests by using force against them , clashes became frequent between protestors and paramilitary forces , particularly Pakistani Rangers .

The protests  were born out of a sense of betrayal . People felt cheated when Pakistani government  did not honour its agreement to provide subsidized wheat and electricity . This agreement was signed in   February this year after months of protests since August last year .  And  when   the things reached  the point of  extreme frustration , the Jammu and Kashmir Joint Action Committee  to press the government to honour the agreement , gave a call for “ shut down and wheel  jam” for May 11. But before that Pakistani forces started crackdown on   activists. Dozens of them  were arrested on Friday ( May 10), according to Pakistani media reports .

In response to the crackdown , the Action Committee preponed its protests from May 11 to May 10 . Thereafter  a series of clashes started taking place. The uncontrollable situation made Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to announce Rs. 23 billion subsidy for  the region . Much before the subsidy could sink in , Pakistani Rangers fired at the civilians and killed  three of them on Monday. It has reached  where people are preparing for more protests. The original demands have also been replaced by the action against Pakistani establishment for unleashing reign of terror on the residents.

The violent protests against Pakistan government in POJK have many portents . It has exposed Pakistan government’s claim that the people in “ Azad Kashmir” were free and they were with Pakistan out of their own volition . It has effectively  reversed the two-nation theory  which had  prompted Pakistan to invade the erstwhile  princely state of Jammu and Kashmir in October 1947, then under the rule of Maharaja Hari Singh . The Maharaja had signed instrument of accession , acceding the state to India. That made the whole of the state of Jammu and Kashmir part of India . The Indian army was summoned to repulse Pakistani raiders and invaders who had come close to outskirts of the capital city of Srinagar. The mission to recapture all the territories  came to halt when India and Pakistan signed a ceasefire agreement in 1948, leaving  at least one   third of the area of the state under Pakistan occupation. With the abrogation of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir, the process of the integration of the state, now divided into two union territories of J&K, and Ladakh, has been completed .

The protests in POJK are not just for the subsidies , there is a larger thing to be reads. It’s a revolt against Pakistan and its ways of keeping  the territory under its occupation . The people  there have seen how Jammu and Kashmir is progressing  and developing  and they compare their fate   as slaves of Pakistan .

It is a beginning of process of protests that Pakistan may not be able to withstand by the use of army boots . POJK is on path of liberating itself from Pakistan’s atrocious rule . It is not hyperbolic rhetoric but the fact that may surface soon when POJK people seek their return to Jammu and Kashmir , which is integral part of India.

Arun Joshi is author of “Eyewitness Kashmir; Teetering on Nuclear War and senior journalist based in Jammu and Kashmir, writes on South Asian affairs)

Disclaimer: This is the personal opinion of the author. The views expressed in this write-up have nothing to do with www.prameyanews.com.

 


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The protestors have been fired upon  by Pakistani Rangers , killing three and wounding several others , leaving the POJK residents angry . They have risen in revolt against Pakistan and its establishment, refusing to  be placated by  subsidies announced by Pakistani government

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