PoK protesters are enemies like India. Pak minister defends killing

Pakistan's Defence Minister Khawaja Asif has defended Islamabad's violent crackdown on protesters in Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir (PoK), saying he views the agitators as "enemies like India." The remarks came amid fresh violence in the Rawalakot area of PoK, where Pakistani forces have brutally killed at least 32 Kashmiri protestors in the last two days. Speaking to a local television channel, Asif said, "I put the protesters in the same category as India and consider them also as enemies like India," the Pakistani Defence Minister said. He also ruled out the possibility of dialogue with the protesters and called them "enemies of Pakistan."

"I put the protesters of PojK in the same category as India and consider them as enemies": Pak Def Min Khawaja Asif pic.twitter.com/YS9NzhW9Jf

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In PoK the ongoing unrest has claimed over 90 lives since June 5. Most of those killed were activists associated with the Joint Awami Action Committee (JAAC), an organisation that Islamabad banned for calling out human rights violations in the area. Among the dead was Usman Nazir, younger brother of JAAC founding member Umar Nazir. On Tuesday, thousands of JAAC supporters marched from Rawalkot towards Muzaffarabad, demanding the abolition of 12 legislative assembly seats reserved for Kashmiri refugees. The JAAC said the arrangement diluted the political rights of POK residents by allowing Islamabad-based political parties to influence the formation of governments in the region. Protest leaders argue that only those living in POK should have the right to elect its legislature.
India has dismissed the electoral exercise as an attempt to legitimise Pakistan's illegal control over the region. Addressing a weekly media briefing, External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said the polls could not alter India's position on the territory."The current cosmetic electoral exercise is nothing but an attempt by Pakistan to camouflage its illegal occupation and hide its grave human rights violations in the region," he said. Reaffirming India's long-standing stand, Jaiswal said the entire Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh, including the areas under Pakistan's control, remain an integral part of India.