The Real Exploitation

Every country has the sovereign right to amend its own constitution, that’s what New Delhi did on August 5, 2019, when it abrogated Article 370 of the Indian constitution, a temporary provision that provided special status to the people of Jammu and Kashmir [J&K].
Surprisingly, despite being India’s internal matter, Pakistan vociferously objected to and even sought UNSC intervention on this issue, but ended up eating crow as its bizarre claim that Article 370 abrogation was tantamount to violation of UNSC resolutions on Kashmir found no takers.
However, Pakistan has continued to put up a brave face, and referring to August 5 as 'Youm-e-Istehsal' [Day of Exploitation] orchestrated public protests in Pakistan occupied Jammu and Kashmir [PoJK] on this day every year. This year too, August 5 witnessed massive protests in PoJK, but this time the reason was entirely different-the people weren’t protesting against Article 370 abrogation by New Delhi but against their own institutionalised marginalisation and oppression by Islamabad and the army respectively.
The ongoing Joint Awami Action Committee [JAAC] led protests in PoJK are against Islamabad’s high handedness and abject apathy in addressing genuine public concerns on basic governance and economic issues. They are also against indiscriminate use of force against peaceful people by the Pakistan army and other law enforcement agencies in which several protesters have been killed, maimed and injured.
In short, protests in PoJK are about deprivation, disempowerment and exploitation of Kashmiris living in this region and so the widespread ongoing public unrest in PoJK three years in a row isn’t surprising at all.

Blame Game

Unfortunately, rather than address genuine grievances of PoJK residents, both Islamabad and Rawalpindi are trying to portray these protests as being orchestrated by India.
To blame India for everything and anything going wrong in Pakistan is nothing new and so Islamabad and Rawalpindi’s allegation of India’s involvement in the PoJK protests was expected. Pakistan’s Information Minister Attaullah Tarar and Director General [DG] of Pakistan army’s media wing Lt Gen Ahmad Sharif Chaudhary allege that India was both organising as well as financing a coordinated social media campaign supporting JAAC and spewing anti-Pakistan propaganda to incite unrest in PoJK.
Pakistan always claims to have “undeniable evidence” of Indian involvement in orchestrating violence inside Pakistan, but it has never provided any credible proof to substantiate its allegations in the past, and it hasn’t done so now. This is not at all surprising as the current unrest in PoJK is not against Pakistan’s illegal occupation of this region- it’s about basic economic and governance issues.
Despite proscribing JAAC, arresting its leadership and coming down heavily on protesters, this movement has entered its third month, a clear indication that the public grievances being projected are indeed genuine and hence merit immediate redressal. And when Islamabad refuses to address the peoples’ woes and the Pakistan army goes on an indiscriminate killing spree targeting peaceful protesters, outburst of anger against these tormentors is not a propaganda induced reaction but a spontaneous and natural human response.
Middle East Eye, a UK based media website has aptly concluded that “What started as frustration over soaring electricity bills and flour prices [in PoJK] has rapidly transformed into a systemic challenge to Islamabad’s authority in the region. Rather than rehashing the old geopolitical tug-of-war with India, this new wave of unrest reflects deep-seated frustration with local governance.”
It further mentions that “Protesters are demanding genuine political participation, arguing that while Kashmir’s international fate hangs in limbo, their basic political and economic rights cannot remain frozen. In a region long treated as a geopolitical pawn, domestic disillusionment is now taking centre stage.”

Unanswered Questions

Islamabad has officially disclosed that of the 38 demands made by JAAC, it had accepted 37 and this revelation raises three questions. One, doesn’t the government’s acceptance of all the demands barring one unambiguously indicate that the JAAC protests were impelled by genuine grievances?
Two, if JAAC demands are restricted to only economic and governance issues, why has it been proscribed under anti-terrorism laws? Lastly, if JAAC is indeed a terrorist organisation with links to India, then why did Islamabad negotiate with it and accept its demands in the first place?

Indian Hand

It’s evident that while Islamabad is blaming India for inciting PoJK protests in a bid to cover its own governance failures and Rawalpindi is doing likewise to divert attention from its indiscriminate use of force against peaceful protesters.
However, as the people of PoJK would definitely be comparing the far better governance and living conditions in J&K with their own pathetic existence, India may in an indirect way be instrumental in highlighting the sense of comparative deprivation amongst PoJK residents by opening their eyes to reality.
So, on this account, India can definitely be blamed. After all, hasn’t it created four airports in J&K while PoJK has only two? And while J&K has a functional railway line, PoJK has none. Talking about higher education facilities, while J&K has 35 universities, PoJK has just six, and with nine government medical colleges, J&K is far ahead of PoJK which has only three.
The comparative differences in per capita budget and allocation of funds infrastructural development expenditure too are huge. Islamabad is understandably shy of revealing fund allocation for PoJK but some details are available. For example, in 2019, while New Delhi allocated Rs 6724 crores to J&K for infrastructural development, PoJK received just a measly sum of Rs 1028 crores from Islamabad.
According to The Geostrata, an independent policy and research think tank, the Union Budget of India, for the year 2025-26 allocated Rs 41,000 crores to J&K as central assistance along with Rs 13,522 crores centrally sponsored schemes and the Prime Minister’s Development Package. On the other hand, Pakistan slashed its scanty budgetary allocation for PoJK by a whopping 16%, from a previous estimation of Rs 2,307 crores quoting Dawn’s observation that “the region would be handicapped by lower allocations.”
While rebutting unsubstantiated allegations of Indian involvement in PoJK protests, New Delhi therefore needs to expose how Islamabad’s anti-people economic policies, inefficient governance and brazen exploitation of the resources of this region have forced its people to rise up and demand what is rightfully due to them.
Tailpiece: Even though the Pakistan army is merrily going about shooting peaceful protesters in PoJK, DG ISPR has the impudence to declare that Kashmiris are Pakistan’s “sub se ladla bacha” [most favourite child], and expects the world to believe this.
Isn’t this a classic case of great expectations?

Email:---------------------------nileshkunwar.56@gmail.com