Violent Protests In Pakistan Occupied Kashmir Leave Police Officer Dead, Over Hundred Injured: What Triggered The Massive Unrest

Violent street protests in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK) have resulted in the death of a police officer and three civilians, and injuries to more than 100 people since Friday (10 May), according to Pakistani media reports.

The violence began after about 70 members of the Joint Awami Action Committee, an organisation led by traders, were arrested during a strike against rising costs of food, fuel, and utilities.

Pakistan’s ongoing economic crisis and high inflation have contributed to widespread hardships, further exacerbated for traders by the cessation of trade with India.

The protests erupted on Friday against the high electricity and food prices.

Similar demonstrations occurred in August 2023 over high electricity bills.

A general strike brought Muzaffarabad, the capital and largest city of PoK, to a standstill as public transport, shops, markets, and businesses shut down.

Large numbers of protesters broke barricades and clashed with police in the Mirpur and Muzaffarabad divisions.

On Sunday (12 May), the Pakistani paramilitary Rangers were deployed to secure government buildings, including the legislative assembly and courts.

The Rangers's 19-vehicle convoy, including five trucks, reached Muzaffarabad in a “charged atmosphere”, and was pelted with rocks near Shorran da Nakka village, to which they responded with teargas and firing.

After entering the city through the Western Bypass, the Rangers were welcomed with rocks again, prompting them to use teargas and bullets. The shelling was so intense that the entire neighbourhood reeled from it, Dawn reported.

Pakistan’s economy has faced extremely high inflation and poor economic growth for over two years due to rising energy costs.

Consumer inflation has remained above 20 per cent since May 2022, reaching 38 per cent in May 2023, as reported by the Dawn newspaper.

Leaders in PoK have protested discrimination by the Islamabad government in the distribution of power.

The region’s premier, Chaudhry Anwarul Haq, has complained about not receiving a fair share of the 2,600MW of hydropower produced by the Neelum-Jhelum project.

Haq also stated that his request for resources to increase government employees' salaries was denied, forcing him to divert development funds to pay them.

Further, traders in PoK have been significantly impacted since India raised customs duties to 200 per cent on Pakistani products following the Pulwama terror attack in February 2019.

Consequently, Pakistan’s exports to India plummeted from an average of $45 million per month in 2018 to $2.5 million per month between March and July 2019.

The situation worsened when Pakistan halted all trade with India after the constitutional changes in Jammu and Kashmir in August 2019.

Over the last five years, India-Pakistan trade has dwindled to about $2 billion annually, a small fraction of the $37 billion trade potential estimated by the World Bank.

Pakistan’s foreign exchange reserves have fallen sharply due to rising global food and fuel prices following the Russia-Ukraine war.

A similar balance of payments crisis affected Sri Lanka in 2022-23, prompting India to provide support.

According to the State Bank of Pakistan, the country’s forex reserves dropped from a peak of $20.1 billion in August 2021 to $2.9 billion in February 2023, barely enough to cover a month’s imports.

Pakistan imports nearly 40 per cent of its total primary energy supply.

The country's largely aid-dependent economy has an underdeveloped private sector, and its stock market has shown minimal growth.

Pakistan’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) contracted by 0.17 per cent during FY23.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) recently stated that Pakistan needed gross financing worth $123 billion over the next five years and was expected to seek $21 billion in the fiscal year 2024-25 and $23 billion in 2025-26.

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