Unrest mounts in Kashmir as Pakistani security crackdown stokes reform movement

1 day ago 1

Unrest mounts in Kashmir as Pakistani security crackdown stokes reform movement

Pakistani forces blockade Kashmir as protesters demand electoral reforms and — increasingly — revolution.

Transcript

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

We're following protests in Kashmir, the region split between Pakistan and India. For years, Kashmiri Muslims living under Indian rule agitated for autonomy or even independence. Now it is protesters in the part of Kashmir controlled by Pakistan who want more control over their government. NPR's Diaa Hadid reports.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

UNIDENTIFIED PROTESTER: (Non-English language spoken).

UNIDENTIFIED PROTESTERS: (Non-English language spoken).

DIAA HADID, BYLINE: In footage of a protest shared on social media, men say, we will kill, we will die, but we will bring a revolution.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

UNIDENTIFIED PROTESTER: (Non-English language spoken).

UNIDENTIFIED PROTESTERS: (Non-English language spoken).

HADID: Protests erupted after Pakistani authorities rejected electoral reforms demanded by residents of Kashmir, who formed just over 4 million people. Then, in late July, the violence escalated as security forces halted a march of thousands in a town called Rawalakot. So protesters have been holding a sit-in there. Amnesty International reports that since the violence began, some 40 people have been killed, alongside six Pakistani security personnel. Protest leaders say the death toll is over 60. It's impossible to independently verify because the area has been under a tightening blockade.

Pakistani authorities have largely shut down the internet, and they've ordered foreign journalists to leave the area. One woman who recently left tells NPR that in her village, families are going hungry, and there's medicine shortages. Like most people NPR spoke to, she requested anonymity, fearing her family would be punished. A spokesperson for the government of Pakistan-administered Kashmir said reports of civilian deaths were exaggerated. It denied reports of blockades but said it had restricted movement in some areas to protect civilians from violence, and it accused some protesters of being armed. Danish Khan is an associate professor at Franklin and Marshall College who hails from Kashmir. He says Pakistan, an Islamic republic, has long presented itself as the rightful ruler of Muslim-majority Kashmir. But the state's violence...

DANISH KHAN: That sits very uncomfortably to the story Pakistan tells about itself to its own people and to the rest of the world

HADID: For the same reason, Khan says, Pakistani authorities are continuing to conduct elections for the territory of Kashmir they administer. It's a way of demonstrating legitimacy. One protest leader told sympathizers that elections carried out at gunpoint have no legitimacy.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

UNIDENTIFIED PROTESTER: (Non-English language spoken).

HADID: The spokesperson for Pakistan's most powerful institution, the military, suggested last week that protesters were agents of enemy India, and the state was acting softly.

UNIDENTIFIED SPOKESPERSON: State is being very, very restrained.

HADID: Khan, the associate professor says Pakistani authorities are trying to seal off Kashmir for another reason, too - the fear of contagion.

KHAN: Political movements have a way of traveling, right? The elites in Pakistan are alert that there are a lot of grievances across Pakistan.

HADID: For now, Kashmiri residents are focused on their own grievances, and they say they'll protest again.

Diaa Hadid, NPR News.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

Accuracy and availability of NPR transcripts may vary. Transcript text may be revised to correct errors or match updates to audio. Audio on npr.org may be edited after its original broadcast or publication. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.

Read Entire Article