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| Eying on Kashmir for decades, Pakistan could not empower the territory in control | | | Ankush Verma
Since decades Pakistan has been harping on Kashmir before the international community but it could not do much to improve the socio-economic conditions of the people of Pakistan Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (POJK), a territory under its control for the last 73 years. Various studies have shown that residents of POJK are still facing a lack of availability of basic health facilities, quality education, proper housing structure and employment opportunities etc.
The region of POJK is divided into Gilgit- Baltistan and Azad Kashmir (POJK) for administrative reasons but nothing much has been achieved in terms of governance and improvement in socio-economic conditions. According to an estimate, about forty per cent of the population of POJK is living below the poverty line. There is no doubt that the region of POJK is potentially rich in minerals, forestry, gemstones, energy, tourism, agriculture, livestock, human resource development, small and medium enterprises, the social sector but still, Pakistan could not bring this region out of the clutches of poverty. Pakistan remains so busy in tarnishing the image of India before the world that it could not provide the basic things like improved infrastructure, energy, skilled labour force and enhanced means of communication to attract private enterprises to invest in the region. The lack of good governance has contributed the poverty to breed in every nook and corner of the region.
The basic needs like literacy in POJK are also dismal. Studies have found that the most neglected level of education is primary education which is poorly financed and poorly managed and so is the case with higher education. On top of it, the political interference in the system breeds corruption, favouritism and nepotism. The supervision system is weak and traditionally characterized which have no effective mechanism for teacher training and also there is a very poor system of accountability exist. Successive educational policies have failed to bring any positive changes in the system due to poor implementation and monitoring. The outdated curriculum of primary education is executed.
Assessment is based on the memory of the students rather than their performance.
According to a research article published in Sociology and Criminology-Open Access, the number of children out of school are 43% with a 35% dropout rate and teachers absent rate from school is 12%, language outcomes are very poor with wide regional disparities. 41% of schools are without buildings 87% without electricity, 73% are without the availability of drinking water and 82% are without boundary walls. In these conditions, the quality education is nearly impossible.
Higher education is also neglected in POJK. There is very meagre budget allocation by the government in University of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (POJK) which restricts the university to allow its students to take admission only in limited old subjects. According to the news reports, the university has not even had the departments of Urdu and Islamic Studies and also unable to offer its services to the students who wanted to take admission in Mass Communication, Political Science Psychology and Engineering which has the highest scope in the world market today.
The public health system in PoJK is also very poor with limited access to quality medical care. The basic health centres have insufficient medical staff including doctors and nurses. News sources reveal that the health centres mostly run out of medical supplies.
In some cases, the patients have also reportedly been provided with expired medicines. The total health care infrastructure is dismal. The COVID pandemic has further exposed the health care system of the Pakistani government in POJK. POJK suffered badly because Islamabad denies adequate funds to cope with the Covid-19 situation.
Islamabad continues to reject provisions of protective gear with the excuse of fund shortage. Medical professionals are still not sure about the exact scope of positive cases as many people remain undetected due to faulty testing kits. Pakistan has also not maintained any data on the COVID deaths in POJK. This all project an overall poor health care system in POJK.
The overall livelihood conditions of the residents of POJK are dilapidated due to the negligence of the government. Pakistani governments continuously talk about Kashmir valley and its socio-economic and political issues to distract Pakistanis away from the dismal situation in POJK. But in reality, Pakistan betrays the people of Pakistan Occupied Jammu and Kashmir.
It has no will or capacity to fulfil the basic needs and demands of local Muslims yet pretends to care for the Muslims in Kashmir valley.
Today the world over knows that Pakistan has used the region of POJK more to train terrorists and to base training camps and launch pads for terrorists who infiltrate into India to create unrest in the state. Despite some of the highest peaks and longest glaciers in the region, Pakistan has failed to boost tourism and the economy in the area. |
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