The ruler of the Princely State of Jammu and Kashmir acceded to India in 1947 while adhering to the British constitutional mechanism for Subcontinent’s partition. His decision became an excuse for the newly-sired Pakistan to occupy Gilgit and Muzaffarabad districts. Sensing Pakistan’s vacillation on withdrawal, the representative of the United Nations Commission for India and Pakistan warned that the illegal presence of Pakistani troops and Islamic mercenaries posed grave threat to life, honour and assets in Pakistan Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (PoK) and delayed a peaceful settlement on Kashmir.
As if trying to fulfill this prophecy, Pakistan with its seven-decade long colonial approach has reduced the inhabitants of PoK into disenfranchised subjects. The policy to maximize strategic gains from issue of Kashmir has motivated the military oligarchy to lease PoK to Islamic Jihadi outfits, which sets major impediments to socio-economic sustainability and casts long shadows over democracy and civil liberties.