ISLAMABAD: The international community is witnessing the "real growth" in Jammu and Kashmir against a brutal illegal occupation of the Pakistani regime in the occupied territory, making it clear that the comparison is no longer a contest of narratives.
In a report titled 'PoJK faces Pakistani bullets as J&K records broad-based development', the European Times reflected not only on the ongoing bloodshed in Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir (PoJK) but also stated clearly that all what matters now are measurable outcomes as the gap has become "indefensible" for Pakistan.
"In Jammu and Kashmir, an elected assembly is functioning, the economy is projected to touch INR 2.86 lakh crore, terrorism has fallen to its lowest level in more than three decades, and trains now cross the world's highest railway arch bridge into the Valley. In PoJK, Pakistani security forces have shot dead scores of unarmed protesters since June, the occupied territory’s largest civic movement has been proscribed under anti-terrorism law, all types of communications have been cut for close to 60 days, a two-phase election has been boycotted, and all outcomes will be rigged by Islamabad. Jammu and Kashmir is developing on every measurable front. PoJK is being illegally administered by force under Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir’s ‘hard state’ doctrine," the report highlighted.
In June, the so-called 'home department' of the PoJK had proscribed the Jammu Kashmir Joint Awami Action Committee (JAAC) under the Azad Jammu and Kashmir Anti-Terrorism Act 2014, within days of the election schedule being announced for July 27.
"Mobile and internet services were suspended and stayed down across the region for close to 60 days, restored only partially on the eve of polling. Islamabad has even restricted the telecast of Al Jazeera across the country for a report revealing ground reports of the poll boycott. According to JAAC, 45 people were killed before July 27, and an additional 37 people were killed on July 27 and 28. It also alleges that Pakistani authorities removed bodies from hospitals and streets to suppress the count. Amnesty International recorded at least 40 deaths in the run-up to the farce elections. The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights has called for an investigation into the killings of innocent civilians," the report revealed.
JAAC, it said, is a coalition of traders, transporters, lawyers and students demanding cheaper electricity, subsidised wheat, an end to elite privileges, and the abolition of 12 assembly seats reserved for refugees who live in Lahore, Rawalpindi and Sialkot rather than in the territory itself.
"Those 12 constituencies carry roughly 439,000 registered voters located outside PoJK, and they let Islamabad’s parties decide who governs the occupied territory. Furthermore, the electricity grievance is equally concrete. The Mangla Dam operates at 1,310 MW and supplies close to five billion units a year to the national grid, about 15 per cent of Pakistan’s installed hydropower capacity. Local production costs run between PKR 3 and PKR 4 per unit while consumers in PoJK have been billed at many times that rate, and the federal government pays the territory no royalty," the report mentions.
The recent "fake polls', it said further, were held under a total communications blackout, with JAAC banned as a "terrorist" outfit and coalition partners accusing each other of fraud, further confirming Pakistan's illegal occupation.
On the other hand, the contrast across the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir is documented in the same currency of hard numbers.
"The region continues to witness all-round development, with a far-improved security situation and a reliable counterterrorism apparatus to counter Pakistan-run cross-border terrorist activities. The first six months of 2026 saw only 12 casualties, of which 10 were militants killed largely while attempting to infiltrate J&K. Local recruitment into militancy has collapsed from 125 youths in 2021 to around 100 in 2022, 22 in 2023 and fewer than 10 in 2024. Security officials now count a single active local militant in the entire Union Territory. Still, Pakistan has not stopped its terror-sponsoring activities in the region and would continue to look for ways to create instability," it stated.
It also highlighted that the Economic Survey 2025-26 projects real GSDP growth of 5.82 per cent and nominal growth of 8.89 per cent, taking the economy to nearly INR 2.86 lakh crore. Per capita income in J&K is estimated at INR 1,68,243, rising faster than in several northern states and closing the gap with the national average. Some 2,227 industrial units carrying cumulative investment of INR 15,940 crore have become operational over seven years, and the New Central Sector Scheme has drawn proposals worth INR 14,292 crore. The Union Territory of J&K holds Top Achiever status in the national Ease of Doing Business assessment.
The political contrast is the sharpest of all in providing a clear contrast between PoJK and Jammu and Kashmir, the report spotlighted.
"The region voted in 2024 at a turnout above 63 per cent, the highest in decades, and is governed by an elected Chief Minister. Whatever contentious issues and policy disagreements are conducted peacefully in the J&K Assembly. Disagreement in PoJK is conducted at gunpoint of the Pakistan military establishment, with all communications and the internet switched off. Islamabad has spent nearly eight decades branding PoJK as 'Azad' (Free). However, the cat is out of the bag now as the international community is witnessing the real growth in Jammu and Kashmir against a brutal illegal occupation of the Pakistani regime in PoJK," the European Times report concluded.
--IANS
