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Rome [Italy], Feb 2 (ANI): The nature of protests in Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir (PoK) has changed markedly over the past five years. Today, the focus has shifted from administrative grievances to more important issues of status and comparisons with better conditions in Jammu and Kashmir, Di Giordano Lavoratore writes in Criminalita e Giustizia.
In the name of political empowerment, successive Pakistani governments have only superficially reformed the region. Lavoratore said it was the Prime Minister’s Gilgit-Baltistan Council, not the GB Legislative Assembly, that actually controlled the area.
More recently, local anxiety has been fueled by reports that wheat subsidies and quotas allocated to the region may be withdrawn. In the winter of 2017, similar protests took place in the UK, demanding that the government announce the abolition of the tax.
According to Criminalita e Giustizia, the Pakistani government wants to treat the people of the region as equal taxpayers without giving them corresponding constitutional rights.
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Pakistan is going through a severe economic crisis, and it has no choice but to limit subsidies and boost revenues, even in areas that have been marginal since its inception.
Meanwhile, Kashmir Unity Day is celebrated every year on February 5 to demonstrate Pakistan’s support for Kashmiris. Students from government and military schools, as well as government officials, were forced to organize rallies. Lavoratore said failure to comply with the directive could result in disciplinary action against them.
However, over the past six months, there have been violent protests in both Gilgit-Baltistan and PoK, this time against the Pakistani army. The most recent incident occurred in December 2022, when locals in Gilgit protested against unfair taxation and land expropriation by the state.
According to Criminalita e Giustizia, protests have been held by people affected by the Diamer Bhasha Dam project, who have not been compensated for land/property expropriated by the government.
Since the recent ouster of Imran Khan, the military has come under heavy criticism for its meddling in the country’s politics, with questions about its seriousness about Kashmir.
For decades, large tracts of unclaimed land (historically known as Khalisa Sarkar) have been illegally occupied by the Pakistani army and government. Over the past decade, Lavoratore said illegal occupations under the guise of CPEC security and fighting foreign conspiracies have increased.
In recent years, the Pakistan Army and paramilitary forces have illegally occupied land in the following places in Gilgit, namely Sakwar, Maqpondas Naltar and Danyore-Oshkandas junction. As the people of Gilgit-Baltistan rebel against the government in the freezing winter, the pro-Pakistan dealt with the trending details of the Gilgit Winter Sports Festival to prevent international attention.
At a time when mainstream media has refused to cover the events, activists have taken to Twitter Spaces to share their struggles and oppressive state policies, Lavoratore said.
The state’s standard response to rising nationalist sentiment was to invoke Schedule 4 of the Anti-Terrorism Act to implement repressive colonial measures.
Unsurprisingly but unknown to Indians, the people of GB have always considered the Ladakh development model as a benchmark to be achieved.
According to Criminalita e Giustizia, the Pakistani government’s reaction to developments in the region is largely dependent on the scale of Indian media coverage, as Pakistani media refuses to report on the challenges that prevail in the region. (Arnie)
(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from a Syndicated News feed, the content body may not have been modified or edited by LatestLY staff)
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