New Delhi: Pakistan’s Defence Minister Khawaja Asif this week defended the brutal crackdown by security forces in Pakistan Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (PoJK), in which 90 civilians have been shot dead since June, claiming that the protesters asking for free elections and basic amenities were “enemies” like India.
“There will be no dialogue with the protesters,” Asif told reporters. “I bracket them with India. I put them in the same category as India and consider them enemies of Pakistan.”
His remarks came as violence intensified in the Rawalakot region, where activists allege that Pakistani security forces killed at least 30 protesters over the past two days.
By equating demonstrators with India, Pakistan has framed the unrest in wartime terms rather than as a political dispute.
Rana Sanaullah Khan, an adviser to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, acknowledged that the Joint Awami Action Committee (JAAC), the grassroots coalition leading the protests, had earlier presented the government with a list of 38 demands during negotiations. But he too accused them of carrying out what he described as an “India-like attack”, denying that anyone had been killed in the latest clashes.
The remarks amount to one of the starkest public justifications by Pakistan’s government yet for the use of force against a civilian protest movement in PoJK, where demonstrations over economic grievances and electoral reforms have evolved into the most sustained challenge to Islamabad’s illegal occupation of the region in years.
The latest violence unfolded as Pakistan conducted the first phase of elections to the region’s legislative assembly on 27 July. The JAAC said at least 20 of its activists were killed and dozens wounded in clashes with security forces since Monday alone, bringing the overall death toll since June to more than 90. Pakistani authorities have disputed the casualty figures and accused protesters of firing at security personnel during a march from Rawalkot to Muzaffarabad Monday by JAAC.
The committee has rejected these accusations, insisting that the march participants carried only sticks. Committee members said those killed included Usman Nazir, the younger brother of JAAC founder, Umar Nazir Kashmiri.
Local activists say internet services have been suspended across much of the territory and that Pakistani media have been effectively prevented from reporting extensively on the protests.
The ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) won 9 of the 13 seats contested in the first phase of voting. Two further rounds are scheduled for the 2nd and 10th of August. Former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf has boycotted the polls, leaving the contest largely between the PML-N and its coalition partner turned rival, the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP).
Contesting political parties meanwhile are busy trading barbs.
Punjab CM Maryam Nawaz celebrated the results of the first phase labelling it the will of the people. Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal similarly rejected accusations from PPP Chairman, Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, that the polls had been manipulated.
The PPP responded by accusing the PML-N of securing a “fake mandate” through violence and the misuse of state institutions. Senior Sindh Minister, Sharjeel Inam Memon, alleged that the ruling party had sought to “steal the mandate” as security forces suppressed dissent across the region.
(Edited by Niyati Kothiyal)
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Khawaja Asif has expressed the open secret of Pakistan. That, the real Pakistan is the “Pakistan Punjabi areas”. They always consider Balochis, the Sindhis, the Kashmiris, and the Pashtuns as enemies of Pakistan. The Balochis have understood this, the Pashtuns are also fighting. Now the Sindhis and the Kashmiris should also fight and declare their independence.