New Delhi: India on Friday accused Pakistan of “continuing to unleash ruthless force against peaceful civilians” in Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir (PoJK) and pointed to remarks by Defence Minister Khawaja Asif as evidence of what it described as “Islamabad’s disregard for the region’s residents”.
“The Pakistani Establishment continues to unleash ruthless force against peaceful civilians in PoJK,” Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said at a press briefing.
PoK activists claim that at least 90 civilians have been killed since anti-government protests erupted in June, though Pakistani authorities disagree with those figures. Amnesty International declared the death toll between 100 and 120. Violence intensified this week in the Rawalakot region, where activists alleged that Pakistan Rangers killed at least 30 protesters over two days to stop a long march to Muzaffarabad, the occupied region’s capital, amid the ongoing three-phase elections.
The ministry also criticised Pakistan’s Defence Minister Khawaja Asif for describing protesters as “enemies like India”. It also cited comments by Rana Sanaullah, a senior adviser to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, who acknowledged that militant groups once backed by Pakistan had turned against the state.
“Its absolute disdain for the innocent people of PoK was laid bare when their defence minister branded the protesting civilians as enemies. Adding to this, the Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Political Affairs openly admitted that the very “mujahideen” that the Pakistani establishment trained, armed and sent to bleed India have now turned their guns inward, weaponizing themselves against the state,” the MEA said.
Calling the ongoing legislative elections in the territory a “humiliating rejection” of Pakistan’s establishment, the ministry said the vote could not obscure what it described as systematic repression and longstanding human rights violations.
The MEA had made similar remarks earlier this week, dismissing the elections as a “cosmetic electoral exercise” intended to disguise Pakistan’s “illegal occupation” of territory that New Delhi claims as an integral part of the Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.
The ministry’s comments came amid violence, killings and an internet shutdown in the region, which has been gripped by weeks of unrest. The protests began over electoral representation and economic hardship but have since evolved into a broader movement challenging Islamabad’s governance in the region.
The immediate trigger for the protests was a dispute over 12 legislative seats reserved for refugees who migrated from Jammu and Kashmir after the 1947 Partition and subsequent wars. Leaders of the Jammu and Kashmir Awami Action Committee (JAAC) argue that these constituencies, whose voters largely reside in Pakistani cities outside the territory, give Islamabad’s mainstream political parties disproportionate influence over governments in Muzaffarabad.
(Edited by Jeyasri AT)