“Our organization, the United Kashmir Peoples National Party (UKPNP), is deeply concerned with violations of human rights in the princely state of Jammu & Kashmir where the people of Pakistani Occupied Jammu Kashmir (POJK) & Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) lack economic, social, Cultural, Civil and political rights including right to development,” writes Sajid Hussain.
The whole system is being controlled by the Federal Government at Islamabad, where people have no rights and even control on their own resources. The electoral laws undermine the basic political rights of Kashmiris by barring them from seeking office if they oppose Kashmir’s accession to Pakistan. The pro-independence political leaders of Jammu & Kashmir have either been killed or have languished in jail or living in forced infinite Exile.
The assemblies and rulers of both regions are powerless. The whole power is at the hands of the lent officers imposed from Pakistan. No one from state subject has to contest election or to get a job or register a political party without signing the affidavit of Kashmir’s accession to Pakistan. Draconian AJK Elections Act 2020 made it mandatory for all political parties to declare loyalty to Pakistan. Article 126 of the Act provides, (1) No political party shall be formed with the object of propagating any opinion or acting in any manner prejudicial to the Ideology of State’s Accession to Pakistan. Banning books, land grabbing, occupying hills tops by military, pressing voices of civil society and witch hunt of nationalists are the worst examples that require urgent attention from European Parliament.
It is a very big fraud that the area is being called Azad without any real freedom. The electoral repressive colonial laws is undemocratic and unjustified. . Pakistani Political Parties and Ban outfits can register their organizations in POJK but Nationalists are not allowed to take part in the election or register their political organization.
The culture and local traditions are under real threat because of growing influence of religious fanatics and religious extremist organizations which are regrouping in POJK and Gilgit Baltistan. Pakistan state policy to use the extremist groups as its strategic assets is playing with peoples’ lives and destroyed their culture and values. Many people of POJK and GB have already sacrificed their young generation in the name of “jihad” and extremism which in fact was a proxy war, not a freedom struggle.
In Pakistan Occupied Jammu Kashmir (POJK & Gilgit Baltistan(GB) the number of people speaking each of these languages is not estimated correctly because these communities do not have a separate counting column in the Population Census.
The languages are endanger in POK are Pahari, Gojri, Kashmiri and the languages are endanger in Gilgit-Baltistan, i.e. Shina, Brushaski, Balti, Wakhi, Khowar and Domaki.These languages are ‘potentially endangered’ because it lacks prestige in the deputed territory; its speakers suffer from economic deprivation; it is under pressure from a larger language in the public sphere and the languages are not being systematically passed on in the education system. Our language are endangered when its speakers are adults and it is not passed on to the children especially in schools as well as not taught in universities.
Tight controls on freedom of expression have been a hallmark of government policy in Azad Kashmir & Gilgit Baltistan. Pakistan has prevented the creation of independent media in the territory through bureaucratic restrictions and coercion.
These restrictions have often been exploited against different groups of people such as nationalist Kashmiris, religious minorities, journalists, human rights activists and political opponents. Censorship of political and social content, often in the name of protecting national security is common. Killings and attacks on journalists and media workers remain alarming and are characterized by ongoing impunity.
The People in Pakistan Occupied Jammu Kashmir took the streets and road for protest against the prolonged load shedding from the past few days. We are the owners of the rivers, dams but Pakistani intuitions like wapda and other companies are producing electricity and exporting to Pakistan and there is a shortage of electricity of 15 to 20hrs a day. The people are demanding that we are producing approximately 2500MW to 4000MW of Electricity from our local’s dams.
The Electricity need of so called Azad Kashmir is 350MW then why we do not have electricity and why we are facing load shedding from 15 to 20 hours per day. The So called AJK Government has taken repressive action to the protestors by calling them Indian agent and lodged FIR’s against these protestors and then arrested .Pakistan must refrain from such measures and take back these FIR’s and immediately solved the problem of Electricity Load Shedding. We have time and again knocked on the door of the international community to take cognizance and intervene in the rapidly worsening human rights situation in Pakistan occupied Jammu Kashmir
UKPNP is concerned about the Cultural rights and growing extremism and terrorism in the regions and free roaming of banned terrorist organizations in Azad Kashmir. Fundamental freedoms including freedom of expression, freedom of speech, freedom of movement, freedom of assembly has been taken away and compromised for many decades. Pakistan must stop land grabbing and occupying hilltops of POJK and terrorist infrastructure must be dismantled, Therefore, European Parliament should send Fact finding mission to POJK and Gilgit-Baltistan and ask Pakistan to respect human rights and ensure fundamental freedoms including right to life.
Follow EU Today on Social media:
