Violent protests sweep PoK, India says Pak oppression the cause

At least 10 people have been killed in five days of violent protests since Monday in PoK, and Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has set up a committee of senior officials and ministers to resolve the crisis.

Randhir Jaiswal, spokesperson for the Ministry of External Affairs, said, “We have seen reports on protests in several areas of Pakistan-occupied Jammu & Kashmir, including brutalities by Pakistani forces on innocent civilians.”

“We believe that it is a natural consequence of Pakistan’s oppressive approach and its systemic plundering of resources from these territories, which remain under its forcible and illegal occupation. Pakistan must be held accountable for its horrific human rights violations,” he said.

Very little information is available on the full extent of the protests when thousands from nearby towns converged on PoK’s capital Muzaffarabad Monday.

Authorities have since cut off phone links and internet access to the region. Three policemen and five civilians have been killed so far, two security officials in Islamabad told the Reuters news agency. The officials said clashes between demonstrators and police had not abated since the protests began Monday.

Businesses, schools and transport went on strike in response to the protests and have been closed in large parts of the region, according to the officials and reports on Pakistan TV channels.

Sharif set up a committee of politicians to investigate the clashes and called on the protesters to enter talks, said a statement from his office.

A member of the committee, Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal, said he hoped to “resolve all these issues through negotiations”.

The protesters are opposing perks and privileges enjoyed by the region’s politicians, bureaucrats and other top government functionaries.

The other main grievance is seats in the local legislature that have been reserved for representatives from other parts of Pakistan, which Kashmiri activists say have been used to install or topple regional governments.

Four people were killed during similar clashes last year, before Sharif approved a grant of 24 billion rupees ($86 million) to help meet most of their demands, which included subsidies on flour and electricity prices.

Pakistan’s leading daily, Dawn, reported Friday that talks between the protestors and Pakistan government interlocutors over elite privileges and reserved seats for refugees broke down last week.

– (With agencies from Islamabad)

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