Onlykashmir.in News Desk
The Jammu-based Research and Advocacy Group (RAAG) has urged the Government of India to summon the Chargé d’Affaires of the Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi and lodge a strong diplomatic protest over the reported killings, injuries, arrests, restrictions and humanitarian hardships faced by the people of Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir (PoJK). The group also questioned why the Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly has not discussed the issue.
In a detailed memorandum addressed to External Affairs Minister Dr S. Jaishankar, RAAG has sought a formal oral and written démarche to Pakistan, followed by a Note Verbale recording India’s concern and expressly reserving its sovereign and territorial position over PoJK. The memorandum was submitted by Advocate Madhavi Sambyal, the organisation’s authorised signatory, and draws attention to appeals from the people of PoJK to India for the protection of their lives, liberty, dignity and basic rights.
“The people of PoJK are not merely inhabitants of a territory. They are our own people, people of Jammu & Kashmir, separated from the rest of the country by a Line of Control and presently living under Pakistan’s illegal occupation,” RAAG said. The group maintained that such appeals ought not to remain unanswered and should receive an appropriate, considered and visible response from New Delhi, consistent with India’s sovereignty, national security interests and established position on Jammu and Kashmir.
The memorandum stresses India’s longstanding position that the entire territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh are an integral part of the country. It recalls the unanimous Parliamentary Resolution of February 22, 1994, which called upon Pakistan to vacate the areas under its illegal and forcible occupation.
RAAG also relies on Section 14(4) of the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019, under which 24 seats in the Assembly remain vacant until the area under Pakistan’s occupation ceases to be so occupied and its residents elect their representatives. The organisation argues that the provision is significant because Parliament recognised not only the territory but also the people residing there.
The sharpest criticism is aimed at the Assembly. The memorandum notes that members have, in different sessions, raised issues concerning Palestine and Gaza, Iran, Israel and the United States, while, in RAAG’s view, the continuing crisis in PoJK has received no comparable attention. “This silence raises a legitimate question: why are the voices of our own people across the Line of Control not receiving the same attention?” the group asked. It acknowledged that concern for civilians anywhere in the world is legitimate, but said the same concern should extend to people connected with Jammu and Kashmir.
RAAG said the silence creates an impression that the people across the Line of Control have faded from the Assembly’s institutional consciousness, and that this was among the reasons it approached the Union Government. It has also appealed to the Speaker and members of the House to take up the matter for substantive discussion. The memorandum has been forwarded to senior Ministry of External Affairs officials dealing with Pakistan, including the Foreign Secretary and officials of the Pakistan-Afghanistan-Iran Division.
