Share your story and shine at JK Monitor!🌟 Welcome to JK Monitor, where every story matters and every achievement is celebrated! We invite you to share the remarkable journey of your life and showcase your accomplishments to the world. Join our exclusive interviews that honor exceptional individuals just like you. JAMMU: The recent crackdown on peaceful protesters in Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir (PoJK) once again exposes the Pakistan establishment's repressive approach towards the people living under its control. Reports of civilian deaths and injuries during the protests have raised serious humanitarian concerns. The appeals by local groups for an independent international investigation deserve careful attention, and the international community should closely scrutinize these developments and ensure accountability wherever violations of human rights are established. This statement was issued by Girdhari Lal Raina former MLC and spokesperson of BJP JK-UT.
He said that these developments have also exposed deep contradictions within Pakistan's own narrative. Statements by senior Pakistani leaders, including references to militant groups that were once patronized by the Pakistani establishment now turning against the state, underline the long-term consequences of policies that relied on terrorism and armed extremism as instruments of statecraft.
The roots of the present crisis go back to the events surrounding the transfer of the Gilgit Agency on 1 August 1947, when the British terminated the 1935 lease and restored administrative control to the erstwhile princely State of Jammu Kashmir under Maharaja Hari Singh , GL Raina recalled. Brigadier Ghansara Singh was appointed Governor of the region. However, within months, Major William Brown, while continuing to command the Gilgit Scouts, led what is widely known as "Operation Datta," resulting in Gilgit passing under Pakistani control during the 1947 conflict, he stressed.
BJP spokesperson emphasized that since then, successive Pakistani governments have failed to fulfil the democratic, political, economic and developmental aspirations of the people of PoJK and Gilgit-Baltistan. Instead of empowering local populations, the region has remained subject to policies that have repeatedly generated discontent and unrest. He further added that the Pakistani establishment treats POJK as a colony and drains its resources for benefit of Punjabi speaking Pakistanis, leaving the the natural owners of these resources to live a life of deprivation and denial of basic requirements.
India has consistently maintained that the Union Territories of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh are an integral and inalienable part of India, Raina asserted. He also urged the international community and all stakeholders to use the correct nomenclature while referring to these territories and to take serious note of the democratic deficit and human rights concerns prevailing in Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir.
