Pakistan: 20 Reported Killed On Day One Of PoJK Polls

The first round of polls to the so called assembly of Pakistan-Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (PoJK) went as per the script written in Islamabad. With the Joint Awami Action Committee (JAAC) banned, and ex-prime minister Imran Khan’s PTI boycotting it, the PML(N) of Shahbaz Sharif is expected to coast to an easy victory.

But in the run up to the voting and on voting day, the JAAC claimed at least 20 people were killed and several in firing by police and federal agencies. The JAAC had set a deadline of 1 pm on Monday for the authoriries to respond to its demand that 12 “refugee seats” in the assembly be abolished but to no avail. Thousands of protesters then marched from Rawalakot to Muzaffarabad and the authorities opened fire.

In Delhi, the External Affairs Ministry issued a toughly worded statement, “The current cosmetic electoral exercise is nothing but an attempt by Pakistan to camouflage its illegal occupation and hide its grave human rights violations in the region.”

India further reaffirmed its stance that the entire Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh, including the areas currently under Pakistan’s illegal and forcible occupation, are integral and inalienable parts of India. Interesting from Delhi’s point of view is opinion from a section of Pakistan’s elite, about the PoJK protests and polls.

Former Pakistani diplomat Maleeha Lodhi noted that “the lesson to be learned from Pakistan’s tortured history is that governments cannot strengthen or secure themselves by such oppressive and strong-arm methods.”

Writing in Dawn, she warned that bans and crackdowns have only hardened protesters and worsened the situation, also that this approach would undermine Pakistan’s long-standing position on Kashmir. Voting will carry on ending on Aug 10th. The staggered voting in PoJK for the 45 directly elected seats in an assembly of 53 seats clearly suggests the authorities feared the worst and needed voting to last longer so they could ensure enough forces in key areas.