Onlykashmir.in News Desk
India on Tuesday dismissed the so-called local elections held in Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir as a complete farce, with the Ministry of External Affairs asserting that these hollow exercises cannot mask the grim reality unfolding on the ground in the region. Briefing media in New Delhi, MEA Spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said the real story emerging from PoJK is one of public protest and continuing killings of civilians by Pakistani forces rather than any genuine democratic exercise.
Jaiswal said that since June this year, at least 90 civilians have lost their lives in an ongoing crackdown, a figure he described as a stark indictment of the situation in the region under Pakistani administration. He said the Pakistani establishment has responded to widespread public discontent with bullets, blackouts, intimidation and repression, painting a picture starkly at odds with the democratic legitimacy Islamabad has sought to project through the staged local polls.
The spokesperson’s remarks reflect India’s longstanding position that Pakistan occupied Jammu and Kashmir remains an integral part of Indian territory under illegal occupation, and that any political or electoral exercise conducted there by Pakistani authorities carries no legal or moral standing. New Delhi has repeatedly rejected such exercises as attempts to manufacture a veneer of normalcy in a region that has witnessed sustained unrest, economic hardship and allegations of human rights violations in recent years.
Jaiswal added that Pakistan must be held accountable for its actions in the region and said the international community should take note of what he called Islamabad’s hypocritical lecturing on human rights, given the situation unfolding within territory under its own control. The remarks come amid growing reports of civil unrest in PoJK, where residents have organized protests over issues ranging from inflated electricity bills and wheat prices to broader demands for political rights and greater autonomy.
The MEA’s sharp response is consistent with India’s diplomatic approach of highlighting what it describes as the contrast between Pakistan’s public rhetoric on human rights and its conduct in territories under its administration, including PoJK and Balochistan. Officials in New Delhi have in recent months increasingly used international platforms to draw attention to the crackdown in PoJK, framing it as evidence of the region’s deep alienation from Islamabad’s rule.
The statement is likely to add further diplomatic friction between the two countries, even as Pakistan continues to defend its administrative and electoral processes in the region as legitimate exercises of governance.
