With at least 30 deaths reported during the assembly elections in Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir (PoJK), the Pakistani military’s actions have sparked global outrage.
While members of the diaspora staged a demonstration in the United Kingdom, human rights organisation Amnesty International drew global attention to the Pakistani regime’s months-long crackdown on the movement in PoJK demanding greater autonomy.
The Jammu and Kashmir Joint Awami Action Committee (JAAC), which has been leading the movement, said Pakistani forces killed at least 30 people over the past two days — 25 on Monday and five on Tuesday.
PoJK went to the polls on Monday amid a communications blackout, political unrest, an armed crackdown, and allegations of widespread rigging.
Amnesty South Asia Acting Director Isabelle Lassee said in a statement that such accounts are consistent with Pakistan’s long history of unlawful violence against protesters in the region.“A prompt, independent, and transparent investigation must be ordered into the security forces’ use of force against protesters. So long as an internet and mobile services blackout remains in place, it will severely impede the independent verification of the full extent of the situation on the ground. We urge the Pakistani authorities to restore all communications access and allow media and independent observers into the area,” Lassee further said.
The Pakistani authorities have kept internet services suspended in PoJK since June 5. Instead of engaging in dialogue, they have responded with a brutal crackdown.
For weeks, PoJK has been gripped by an intense crackdown over the JAAC-led movement demanding greater autonomy. During the protests, at least 40 people were killed, including 34 protesters and six security personnel. The authorities have proscribed the JAAC under anti-terrorism laws. Such an environment has essentially made free and fair elections impossible.
While the JAAC-led movement began as a campaign demanding the abolition of 12 seats in PoJK’s assembly reserved for refugees from Jammu and Kashmir who settled in mainland Pakistan after 1947, it has since evolved into the largest movement against Pakistani rule in years
