Highly anguished by the brutality and arbitrary measures perpetrated by the draconian Pakistani regime onto its masses, the people of Pakistan Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (POJK) have demanded to merge with India so that their basic living rights and freedom can be heard and be catered to. Recently protestors in Rawalkot have openly displayed their animosity and audacity towards this repressive regime by insultingly taking off the flag of Pakistan and have unfurled the Indian tricolour instead.
There are a multitude of factors behind this phenomenon. The Pakistani authorities true to their very malevolent nature have been spoon feeding powerful elites in the region and have paid least interest in the infrastructural and other fundamental needs of the population like electricity, residence etc have been largely ignored akin to other provinces except Punjab Province. This has infuriated the natives to a high extent. Witnessing the progress made by India leaps and bounds in every domain has prompted them to join Bharat which can provide them with all that they need.
There is also religious angle to it. Pakistan is a Sunni majority country and has often persecuted Shia Muslims. The majority of the population in POJK is Shia and they have severely faced the brunt of Sunni authorities especially during Muharram.
India is one of the world’s leading democracies in which the two main proponents of Islam live peacefully. There have been calls of joining India such as “Chalo Chalo Kargil Chalo” (Let us all go to Kargil). Protests by traders and the Joint Action Awami Committee (JAAC) over skyrocketing inflation of flour, wheat and other goods have been ruthlessly suppressed by authorities
Several such uprisings have been brutally crushed and repressed by the Pakistan government. But this time the magnitude of protests in POJK this year have been so significant that the Pakistan government fell to its knees and the Pakistani PM Shahbaz Sharif has complied to their demands and have sent relief packages to the region to quell the protests. Many protestors have injured and chased away the Pakistani Rangers and police who were completely incapable of withstanding their onslaught
The Pakistanis are indeed dull-witted, inspite of several skirmishes, asymmetric conflicts and four major wars with neighbouring India have not realised that the Kashmir for which they have been fighting since several years no longer wishes to a part of it anymore. They even refuse to accept the true reality that entire Kashmir rightfully belongs to India.
The Pakistani authorities can do the best they can to crush dissents, but the spirit of freedom cannot be extinguished. A classic example is that of the Indian Freedom struggle. The British heavily suppressed the 1857 India’s first war of Independence and several national uprisings but eventually in the end Indians achieved independence and so is the case with POJK and its people who wish to live freely without any authoritarian interference.
