Jammu, Aug 6: J&K Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Thursday condemned the Pakistani state and its army for what the party alleged “committing atrocities and human rights violations against peaceful protesters demanding civil rights in Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir (PoJK).”
J&K BJP spokespersons Ankur Sharma, Zorawar Singh Jamwal and Vikram Malhotra, while addressing a joint press conference at the party headquarters in Jammu, also criticised the role of Kashmir based political parties for “not raising their voices strongly against Pakistan and Pakistani atrocities on the people of PoJK.”
“For decades Pakistan has used Kashmiris as cannon fodder. First PoJK was turned into a launch pad for terror activities against India. Second, Kashmiris were made to kill other Kashmiris in the name of “jihad” and now when the people of PoJK demanded basic rights, flour and dignity, Pakistan declared them, their organisation JAAC as a “terror organisation” while world designated terrorists like Hafiz Saeed of Lashkar and Masood Azhar of Jaish roam freely under Pakistani state protection because they are Pakistan’s assets against India,” they alleged.
Ankur Sharma, while condemning human rights violations in PoJK, claimed, “Pakistan, which is a totalitarian state, is rapidly dismantling and on the verge of collapse.”
Sharma asserted that Pakistan’s foundation as a theocratic state was a “failed idea”—a reality first exposed by the creation of Bangladesh in 1971. He predicted that this ideological failure would eventually reach its logical conclusion with the secession of more of its provinces. Highlighting the ongoing people’s movements against what he alleged, “state-sponsored barbarism in Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK), and Sindh”, he stated that their separation, much like that of Bangladesh, was only a matter of time.
Sharma reiterated that PoJK remained an undisputed part of India and would be reclaimed at the appropriate time, in accordance with the spirit of the 1994 Parliamentary Resolution.
Elaborating on the human rights violations, Ankur Sharma said that the demands for fair elections, greater political autonomy, protection of freedom of expression and peaceful assembly, reduction in electricity tariffs, subsidies, transparent governance, release of detained activists, independent investigations into protest related deaths were being met with excessive use of force resulting in killings of scores of peaceful protestors.
“Pakistan government was resorting to arbitrary arrests and detentions, more restrictions of freedom of expression, media gag, internet and communication shutdowns to quell peaceful protests and their demands were being met with enforced disappearances and use of anti-terror laws,” he alleged.
Zorawar Singh Jamwal noted with concern that since mid-2026, people in PoJK had been facing atrocities and killings at the hands of the Pakistani State. He appealed to the international community to flag the genocidal nature of the Pakistani state while simultaneously calling for a prompt, thorough and impartial investigation into all the killings and forced disappearances through an independent body comprising members of the international community.
Vikram Malhotra, while criticising the Pakistani Army for its atrocities against peaceful protestors in PoJK, brought the media’s attention to the observations made by the office of UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) against Pakistani action against peaceful protestors. He quoted from the observations and said that even the OHCHR also formally recognised that the Pakistani state was restricting freedom of expression, freedom of association, indulging in institutional discrimination against minority communities, using anti-terror laws against political opponents.
OHCHR, he further said, also called for greater accountability and independent investigations.
