Events have been rapidly unfolding in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK), a part of Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir (PoJK), where, in the first phase of the Assembly ‘elections’, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) has reportedly won nine of the 13 seats.
The real news, however, is the unleashing of brutal violence by Pakistan’s security forces on protestors backed by the Jammu Kashmir Joint Awami Action Committee (JAAC) in the cities of Mirpur and Rawalakot. In just a day of police violence on 27 July, it is estimated that 20 people were killed. That the situation is reaching a flashpoint becomes evident from a remark made by Pakistan’s Defence Minister Khwaja Asif that the protestors in PoJK are “enemies, just like India”, while refusing to enter into a dialogue with them. This means that Islamabad intends to crush any form of dissent with full force.
