Atul Sharma
Early Times Report
Jammu, Oct 5: Even as disturbing reports and visuals emerge from Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir (PoJK), showing the brutal suppression of civilians by the Pakistani establishment, political leaders in the Kashmir Valley have maintained a conspicuous silence — a silence that has raised serious questions about their long-standing narratives and political morality.
Pakistan has reportedly unleashed a reign of terror in the illegally occupied part of India’s territory. Communication lines have been cut, local voices silenced, and accounts of atrocities suppressed. Yet, many Kashmir-based leaders—who never hesitate to comment on national or international developments, have remained tight-lipped about Pakistan’s actions in PoJK.
Political observers say this selective silence exposes their double standards. “Kashmiri leaders are silent about massacres of their own people in PoJK,” said a senior political analyst in Jammu. “Their hypocrisy stands completely exposed.”
Videos surfacing from PoJK over the past week have once again exposed the falsity of Islamabad’s decades-old propaganda about Jammu and Kashmir. For over seven decades, Pakistan has tried to project itself as a friend of Kashmiri people while using the region as a pawn for its own strategic interests.
Pakistan’s track record in PoJK stands in stark contrast to the narrative it has long pushed internationally. The ongoing unrest there has brought to fore Islamabad’s real face and unmasked the duplicity of those within India who echoed its propaganda.
Since the abrogation of Article 370 on August 5, 2019, Jammu and Kashmir has witnessed a phase of integration, stability, and development under the Indian Union. In contrast, PoJK has become a region marked by deprivation, unemployment, and repression.
Observers note that Pakistan’s decades-old policies of neglect and militarization in PoJK have now backfired. The people of the region are no longer demanding azadi but basic human needs — bread, electricity, education, hospitals, and employment.
“Inste The silence of Kashmiri leaders has raised serious questions about their long-standing narratives and political morality.
Pakistan has reportedly unleashed a reign of terror in the illegally occupied part of India’s territory.
Communication lines have been cut, local voices silenced, and accounts of atrocities suppressed.
Kashmiri leaders—who never hesitate to comment on national or international developments, have remained tight-lipped about Pakistan’s actions in PoJK.
India’s decisive actions — including surgical strikes and the recent Operation Sindoor — have dismantled several terror camps in PoJK, dealing a significant blow to Pakistan-backed militant networks.
What has particularly drawn attention is the muted response from Valley politicians who regularly invoke human rights and civil liberties. Even as videos of civilian deaths and military excesses in PoJK circulate on social media, prominent leaders have avoided direct condemnation.
Mehbooba Mufti, president of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), recently posted on X (formerly Twitter): “From Uttarakhand to Ladakh & across the border in Kashmir, Gen Z is rising. Because when your future feels bleak & your dreams are shattered — resistance knows no borders.”
Her post, seen by many as an attempt to equate Pakistan’s internal crisis with India’s domestic issues, has drawn sharp criticism for sidestepping Pakistan’s responsibility for the violence in PoJK.
Analysts argue that such responses — or the lack thereof — reveal a conscious effort to avoid antagonizing Pakistan’s establishment. “By ignoring the plight of PoJK residents, these leaders have shown where their sympathies truly lie,” one observer said.
The current uprising in PoJK, marked by protests and public anger, has become a symbol of disillusionment with Pakistan’s policies. Residents are demanding accountability, governance, and dignity after decades of neglect and exploitation.
The violence and unrest, analysts say, are not isolated incidents but the culmination of years of systemic failure. “Pakistan’s narrative on Kashmir has collapsed under the weight of its own hypocrisy,” said a political commentator. “PoJK today stands as proof of how Pakistan betrayed the very people it claimed to protect.” |
