The people of Pakistani administered Jammu Kashmir have entered a new phase of mass resistance. The struggle is still unfolding, the march is still advancing, and the state has not been able to break the will of the people. Despite killings, mass injuries, curfew, communication blackout, road blockades, tear gas, raids, arrests, and a full-scale propaganda campaign, protesters have continued their march toward Muzaffarabad.
Millions of protesters have overcome multiple barriers and reached the outskirts of Rawalakot. Their arrival near Rawalakot is especially significant because this is the same city where the state tried to drown the movement in blood on the night of June 6. The state has unsuccessfully tried to stop the march through blockades and the deployment of FC, Rangers, and police. Yet the people have pushed through every attempt to isolate, frighten, and divide them!
Despite the killing of around 24 protesters (the actual number could be higher, but the internet blockade has made independent verification impossible) and the injury of hundreds, people have come out in millions for their democratic rights. The movement has shown that bullets cannot silence the demand for basic democratic rights, control over local resources, and popular sovereignty.
There are also reports that the homes of Joint Awami Action Committee (JAAC) leaders, activists, and workers are being raided by FC, Rangers, and other state forces. These raids are a direct attempt to terrorize the leadership, punish families, and break the organizational strength of the movement. This must immediately end!
Jammu Kashmir National Student Federation not only strongly supports the people’s democratic struggle but is also part of this struggle from the very beginning, and our comrades are in its front rows. JKNSF salutes the courage of all those who have faced bullets, tear gas, curfew, blockades, blackouts, arrests, raids, and propaganda. The people have shown that this movement cannot be crushed by force!
We again reiterate our demands:
- Immediate lifting of curfew in Poonch and all other affected areas.
- Immediate and unconditional restoration of internet and communication services across Jammu Kashmir.
- Immediate return of the bodies of all those martyred during the repression, and an end to any attempt by the authorities to withhold, conceal, or deny families the right to bury their loved ones with dignity.
- Immediate end to all blockades and restrictions on the march toward Muzaffarabad.
- No firing, shelling, arrests, raids, or administrative obstruction against protesters marching toward Muzaffarabad.
- Immediate withdrawal of FC, Rangers, police contingents, and all additional forces sent from Pakistan into Jammu Kashmir.
- Immediate end to raids on the homes of activists, workers, and their families.
- Immediate reversal of the decision to proscribe the JAAC.
- Immediate withdrawal of all cases, FIRs, sedition charges, and legal proceedings against protesters, activists, and JAAC leaders.
- The Inspector General of Police in Jammu Kashmir must be charged with the murder of the people killed by state forces.
- The puppet Prime Minister of Jammu Kashmir must immediately resign for presiding over this bloodshed and acting as an instrument of Pakistani state repression.
- All demands of the people of Jammu Kashmir must be fulfilled as promised.
We call upon the working class of Pakistan to reject the state’s propaganda and stand with the oppressed people of Jammu Kashmir. The workers, peasants, students, and poor of Pakistan have no interest in the repression of Jammu Kashmir. Their enemy is the same ruling elite that loots, exploits, censors, and crushes every democratic movement.
We call upon leftist and progressive organizations, trade unions across Pakistan and the region to actively stand in solidarity with this movement, expose the lies of the state, oppose the deployment of forces, and defend the democratic rights of the people of Jammu Kashmir.
We also call upon the international working class and oppressed peoples of the entire world to stand with the masses of Jammu Kashmir. This is a struggle against occupation, exploitation, political subordination, and state violence. Its victory belongs not only to one region, but to every oppressed people fighting for dignity, freedom, and collective power.
Knowledge, Struggle, Victory!