ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Information Minister Attaullah Tarar on Sunday accused a protest movement in Azad Kashmir of having “links to India,” saying Pakistani security agencies had recently unearthed a network involved in anti-Pakistan propaganda which received funds and instructions that “originated from India.”
In Azad Kashmir, supporters of the Joint Awami Action Committee (JAAC), a civil rights protest movement, have been demanding economic and governance reforms, and pressing ahead with protests despite the group being banned under anti-terrorism laws last month, allegedly for threatening public order and security.
Muslim-majority Kashmir is claimed in full by both India and Pakistan but has been divided between them since their independence from British rule. The area is considered highly sensitive by the Pakistani military and government after years of frequent skirmishes and full-blown wars with India.
Speaking at a presser, Tarar said Pakistan agencies arrested an individual, who was providing digital marketing services, and found these services were “linked to India” and an entire misinformation network was operating through bot farms to make “anti-state content against Pakistan” viral on social media.
“During the investigation, this individual disclosed that most of the content he received was related to the Joint Action Committee in Azad Kashmir,” the minister said.
“We have been saying since day one that this Joint Action Committee wants to harm the Kashmir cause. It wants to weaken Kashmir’s relationship with Pakistan, and that this is a conspiracy under which all these activities are taking place. These people have no connection with the Kashmir cause or with the people of Kashmir.”
The civil rights group did not immediately respond to Tarar’s statement, neither did New Delhi.
JAAC, which previously focused on economic and governance issues, has shifted its attention to demanding the abolition of 12 AJK assembly seats reserved for refugees. The group argues that these seats allow Pakistan’s mainstream political parties to influence government formation in AJK.
Thousands of JAAC supporters are currently camped out on the outskirts of Rawalakot, about 100 km (62 miles) south of regional capital Muzaffarabad, and plan on marching toward the regional headquarters on July 27, when general elections are scheduled in parts of Azad Kashmir.
Referring to election rallies in Azad Kashmir, Tarar said political parties were holding massive gatherings in the territory, adding that the crowds of people there had rejected JAAC’s “conspiratorial politics.”
The group has boycotted the July 27 general election in Azad Kashmir.
“They are part of a larger conspiracy, and they have been advancing that conspiracy. Today, no Pakistani should have any doubt that their links trace back to India, and we now have irrefutable evidence of this,” Tarar said, adding that the Kashmiri people had proven that the bond between Kashmir and Pakistan can neither be weakened nor broken by turning up in thousands at political rallies.
