We're facing threat to our ethnicity, says PoK activist

Residents in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) are upset with continuous attacks on their identity, ethnicity and inhuman ways of persecution.

Khuwaja Arif Mustafai, an activist and resident of Neelum Valley said, "Tell them that you are an independent region, who love their ethnicity, language, traditional attire, culture and will not let their values go down."

The region, which remains under Pakistan's illegal occupation for the past 70 years, has seen no signs of development in any field. Be it education, health, employment or any other sector, all the indices have remained on a declining curve.

The region has a huge potential in tourism, but with the government's failed efforts, the job-oriented sector has remained neglected for decades.

"A common resident here is voiceless. The tourism sector has seen slight progress, but it has not benefitted any local. I do not foresee any progress in the future. A large number of people are still unemployed. Nobody has any planning to provide jobs to these unemployed youth," Arif said.

The Pakistan government has always behaved unfairly with the residents of PoK. Poor infrastructure and volatility in all spheres have forced the people to raise a protest against the puppet government in Muzaffarabad, which works on the directions of Islamabad.

Most of the projects in PoK serve the geopolitical interests of Pakistan. The massive hydroelectric plants built on Neelum and Jhelum rivers are the testimonies to these arbitrary designs that have rather caused destruction in the name of development.

The Pakistan government has disproportionately focused on securing its political hold over the region, neglecting the actual needs of the locals.