SS: In the region known as “Azad Kashmir,” elections have just taken place amidst a bout of violence, laying bare the irony of the location’s name. Translated to “Free Kashmir,” the epithet refers to the Pakistan-controlled area of the disputed territory of Jammu and Kashmir—a territory over which Pakistan, India, and China all stake claims. For decades, the Pakistani state has propagandized the notion that only in the India-administered region do human rights abuses occur, in contrast to the part of Kashmir Islamabad controls. However, that fragile narrative has once again been quite spectacularly shattered.
Much of the uproar as of late has to do with a group known as the Joint Awami Action Committee (JAAC), which came into being in 2023 as a localized grassroots movement that arose largely in response to economic issues, such as the rising price of flour and electricity. The JAAC eventually began to speak out about political grievances in addition to economic ones, including advocating for the idea for self-rule, thus gradually transforming into a political movement that challenged the writ of Pakistan’s security establishment. In order to diffuse the growing crisis, the local and the federal governments entered into negotiations with representatives of the JAAC, culminating in an agreement made in October 2025. The present turmoil stems from its lack of implementation.
JohnSteinbeckWasGoat on
Reminder that Pakistan is former SEATO member and a major non NATO ally.
HoveringMango on
Idk what Pakistan shows to its public tbh. I knew a student from there who genuinely believed that Kashmir on the Indian side has no electricity or food and the insurgents are a lifeline for locals to survive or something. How do you believe such things in 2020s? It’s not like North Korea, Pakistan still has contact with Indian side so this kinda beliefs are wild to me. I don’t get it. I think their public is just willfully ignorant.
3 Comments
SS: In the region known as “Azad Kashmir,” elections have just taken place amidst a bout of violence, laying bare the irony of the location’s name. Translated to “Free Kashmir,” the epithet refers to the Pakistan-controlled area of the disputed territory of Jammu and Kashmir—a territory over which Pakistan, India, and China all stake claims. For decades, the Pakistani state has propagandized the notion that only in the India-administered region do human rights abuses occur, in contrast to the part of Kashmir Islamabad controls. However, that fragile narrative has once again been quite spectacularly shattered.
Much of the uproar as of late has to do with a group known as the Joint Awami Action Committee (JAAC), which came into being in 2023 as a localized grassroots movement that arose largely in response to economic issues, such as the rising price of flour and electricity. The JAAC eventually began to speak out about political grievances in addition to economic ones, including advocating for the idea for self-rule, thus gradually transforming into a political movement that challenged the writ of Pakistan’s security establishment. In order to diffuse the growing crisis, the local and the federal governments entered into negotiations with representatives of the JAAC, culminating in an agreement made in October 2025. The present turmoil stems from its lack of implementation.
Reminder that Pakistan is former SEATO member and a major non NATO ally.
Idk what Pakistan shows to its public tbh. I knew a student from there who genuinely believed that Kashmir on the Indian side has no electricity or food and the insurgents are a lifeline for locals to survive or something. How do you believe such things in 2020s? It’s not like North Korea, Pakistan still has contact with Indian side so this kinda beliefs are wild to me. I don’t get it. I think their public is just willfully ignorant.