Pakistan must be held accountable for its horrific human rights violations: India on crackdown on protesters in PoK

India said the ongoing turmoil in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) is the inevitable result of Islamabad’s decades of exploitation and repression, stressing that the territory is an integral part of India. The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) condemned the violent crackdown on demonstrators, calling on Pakistan to be held accountable for “horrific human rights violations."

“We have seen reports on protests in several areas of Pakistan occupied Jammu & Kashmir, including brutalities by Pakistani forces on innocent civilians. We believe that it is a natural consequence of Pakistan’s oppressive approach and its systemic plundering of resources from these territories, which remain under its forcible and illegal occupation. Pakistan must be held accountable for its horrific human rights violations," the MEA said.

PoK has been gripped by one of its largest protest waves in recent years. Thousands of residents across Muzaffarabad, Mirpur, Kotli, Rawalakot and Neelum Valley took to the streets after talks collapsed between the Awami Action Committee (AAC)- a coalition of traders, lawyers and civil groups- and Pakistani authorities. The AAC responded with a “shutter-down and wheel-jam strike", paralysing daily life.