As Islamabad rehearses its Independence Day speeches on throwing off colonial rule, the streets of Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir tell a different story — one of a state turning its guns on the very people it claims to represent.
Over recent weeks, security forces have carried out a brutal crackdown on protesters in Muzaffarabad, Rawalakot and Mirpur who were demanding basic political rights and an end to the 12 reserved assembly seats that let Islamabad-based parties control the region’s legislature. According to the Joint Awami Action Committee, Pakistani forces killed between 30 and 37 unarmed civilians in just two days around July 27–28 alone. The civilian death toll since the unrest began in June has climbed past 60, with local estimates put even higher. Hundreds more lie wounded, many with bullet injuries. Hospitals were commandeered, medical staff sidelined, and even volunteers trying to retrieve the dead came under fire. A communications blackout followed — not to restore order, but to bury the evidence.
This was not policing; it was punishment. Defence Minister Khawaja Asif called the protesters “enemies,” lumping them in with India and shutting the door on any talks. Paramilitary and army units met peaceful marches — demonstrators waving white flags — with live rounds. The region’s staggered elections proceeded anyway, held under boycott, gunfire and enforced silence: democracy reduced to theatre.
The irony cuts deep. Pakistan’s founding narrative rests on the right of a people to reject outside domination and choose their own future. Yet in PoJK, real power over security, resources and political outcomes still sits in Islamabad and Rawalpindi, not with the people who live there. Those who challenge that arrangement are branded seditious. Dissent is answered with bullets, not debate.
By meeting peaceful demands with live fire, throttling information and refusing accountability, Pakistan’s government and military have shown residents of PoJK what they already suspected: the region remains occupied in everything but name. Independence Day speeches in Islamabad will ring hollow while Kashmiri blood still stains the streets of Muzaffarabad.
