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EYE ON INDIA OCTOBER 17, 2025 | The Indian Eye 8

How Pakistan’s Crackdown in

PoJK Exposes Crumbling Control

and Rising Defiance

As protests intensify in Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir (PoJK),

Islamabad’s brutal response and hollow “peace deals” have laid bare the deep resentment

simmering against decades of military domination and economic neglect

OUR BUREAU oppressed across Pakistan will rise
with one voice.” His words, echoing
New Delhi
through the streets of Muzaffarabad,
or more than seven decades, captured a growing sense of solidarity
Pakistan-occupied Jammu and that now transcends PoJK’s borders.
FKashmir (PoJK) has lived un- Islamabad’s heavy-handed re-
der a shadow of neglect, repression, sponse to the protests—mass arrests,
and false promises. This month, that curfews, and intimidation—has only
long-suppressed anger erupted into deepened the sense of alienation. For
the open as violent protests swept Pakistan, which has long projected it-
across Muzaffarabad and other self as the self-appointed defender of
towns, leaving at least eight people “Kashmiri rights,” the scenes from
dead in just four days. What began PoJK are a public relations disaster.
as a local movement for economic The uprising in PoJK has drawn
justice has transformed into one of cautious attention from human rights
the most significant uprisings against groups and the Indian government,
Pakistan’s control in years—an un- which maintains that the territory is
mistakable sign that Islamabad’s grip an integral part of India under illegal
over the region is weakening. Pakistani occupation.
Shops and markets in Muzaf- Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir (POJK) Refugee Front members protest for their long pending Indian analysts argue that the
farabad, the so-called capital of demands, in Jammu (ANI File Photo) protests expose the “reality behind
PoJK, remained shuttered through Pakistan’s rhetoric” and could be-
the week. Demonstrators marched come a turning point in the discourse
through deserted streets, chant- management mode. Two rounds of cal marginalisation, and denial of ba- over Kashmir.
ing slogans for justice, dignity, and emergency talks were held between sic human rights,” Akhter wrote on Internationally, there are grow-
freedom. Videos circulating on- federal ministers and the JAAC lead- X. “The army’s violence and intim- ing calls for scrutiny of Pakistan’s
line showed protesters facing baton ership. Yet, while Pakistani officials idation are systematic, not isolated. actions. Human rights organisations
charges, tear gas, and gunfire from like Parliamentary Affairs Minister What we are seeing today is a people have urged the United Nations and
Pakistani security forces. Local lead- Tariq Fazal Chaudhry claimed that reclaiming their voice after decades global powers to demand account-
ers accused the authorities of using “most demands had already been ac- of fear.” ability for extrajudicial killings and
“brutal tactics to crush the voice of cepted,” the ground reality told a dif- This “peace deal,” activists ar- arbitrary detentions in PoJK. “The
the oppressed,” as public outrage ferent story. Protesters accused the gue, does little to address the root people of PoJK are not asking for
spilled into nearly every district. government of stalling, saying “cos- causes of discontent. Pakistan has charity—they are demanding free-
The immediate spark came from metic gestures” could no longer hide long exploited PoJK’s abundant wa- dom, dignity, and justice,” said
deep frustration over inflation, cor- the systemic exploitation and military ter and natural resources—hydro- Akhter.
ruption, and economic deprivation. stranglehold over the region. power, minerals, and forests—while Whether the current unrest
For months, the Joint Awami Action Facing global scrutiny and do- leaving its residents impoverished. subsides or grows into a larger in-
Committee (JAAC)—an umbrella mestic outrage, Pakistan’s govern- Basic infrastructure, education, and dependence movement, one thing
group of traders, students, and civil ment hurriedly announced a so-called healthcare remain neglected, even as is certain: the façade of Pakistan’s
society members—had been pressing “peace deal” with the protesters—a the Pakistan Army and political elites benevolent control has cracked. The
for fair taxation, equitable resource move widely seen as an act of desper- benefit from the region’s revenues. violent suppression of protesters has
sharing, and an end to elite privileges ation rather than reconciliation. Hu- The recent protests are thus not only emboldened the demand for
in PoJK. But when negotiations with man rights activists, including Taslee- merely about electricity tariffs or self-determination.
the Pakistani government collapsed ma Akhter, have called the deal “a taxation—they are a rejection of Pa- In the streets of Muzaffarabad,
late last month, the anger burst into hollow exercise designed to mislead kistan’s decades-long colonial-style amid shuttered shops and slogans
the streets. the world and buy time.” governance. “These are the de- for liberation, a new chapter of re-
Despite repeated attempts to “For years, residents of PoJK mands of oppressed people,” said sistance is being written—one that
portray the unrest as “under control,” and Gilgit-Baltistan have endured Raja Shoaib, leader of the JAAC. “A no “peace deal” or propaganda cam-
Islamabad has been forced into crisis Pakistan’s illegal occupation, politi- time will come when the poor and paign can easily erase.

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