Washington: There is an ongoing controversy in Pakistani media about the role of the Pakistan-occupied Jammu-Kashmir (PoJK) diaspora in crimes in Europe. The so-called experts further denigrate PoJK residents by implying that their criminal behaviour is linked to ethnicity, language, and societal beliefs. Till date, Pakistani media has ignored or disguised Kashmiris' involvement in these crimes. So, what prompted their sudden adjustment in attitude against PoJK inhabitants?
Pakistan regards the people of the PoJK, including Gilgit Baltistan, as colonial subjects, denying them basic rights and freedoms. To maintain absolute hegemony, the rulers keep residents on handouts with limited development funds and legislative authority. This contrasts with the vast abundance of natural resources that PoJK provides to Pakistan, such as forests, precious stones, heavy metals, gold, copper, and uranium. Pakistan has built multiple dams to suit its energy needs, with PoJK providing the majority of the water Pakistan uses.
PoJK provides Pakistan with the only, free transit route to its most vital strategic partner, China. For decades, locals have let Pakistan use them as cheap strategic fodder against India and Afghanistan, as needed by the Pakistani military. Throughout this time, Pakistani military Generals have made billions of dollars by using the territory and people of PoJK against India.
However, as the economic and political situation in Indian Jammu Kashmir and Ladakh improves tremendously, PoJK citizens are growing increasingly frustrated.
PoJK residents believe that India has done significantly more for Jammu and Kashmir than the Muslim Pakistan for the occupied region under its control. This has spurred protests and calls for improved care in Pakistan. Locals are seeking constitutional and citizenship rights, as well as internal autonomy.
However, due to mismanagement and corruption, Pakistan has little room to address the needs of disgruntled people. After 78 years, Pakistan's national GDP remains lower than that of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. Pakistan's per capita income has fallen since 2025, and its education and health budgets have been cut due to a shortage of funding.
The population of India's Ladakh has uninterrupted electricity, whereas in Pakistan-occupied Gilgit Baltistan, there is an average 20-hour outage each day. The Pakistani government has placed one of Asia's highest fuel taxes on inhabitants to meet their expenses. This has triggered widespread discontent against the government and military.
To deflect matters, the Pakistani army is implementing the same crowd management policies in PoJK that were used in East Pakistan (Bangladesh) and Balochistan.
On the one hand, army relentlessly targets local demonstrators, killing dozens and kidnapping hundreds. On the other, it utilises the loyal media to incite its citizenry against the people of PoJK to legitimise bare brutality and unlawful hegemony.
When East Pakistanis came on streets for basic rights, Pakistani media began portraying them as savages, disparaging their ethnicity, physical appearance, culinary customs, and other aspects of their heritage. They aimed to show that Bengalis are ungrateful, uncivilised, and inferior barbarians who require military force and iron-fisted authority. They tried to prove that conversations and other peaceful forms of communication would be useless because locals were doing India's dirty work.
Today, the media tries to persuade Pakistani citizens that military action in PoJK is the fault of the locals and that there is no other way to control criminals, terrorists, and traitors.
However, people in PoJK have learned from East Pakistan, Pashtunistan, Afghanistan, and Balochistan about how Islamabad employs racism to deny rights and prolong occupation. Therefore, PoJK locals reject the rulers and their tactics and demand immediate withdrawal because Pakistani occupiers are incapable of providing dignified care for them.
(Senge Sering is the founder of Washington-based Institute for Gilgit Baltistan Studies. Views expressed are personal)
Source: IANS
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