Opinion | Pakistan-Occupied Jammu and Kashmir: The Story of Unheard Grievances

In my opinion the biggest form of arrogance is to be unaware of your privileges, because when you can’t appreciate what you have, you cannot understand the problem of those who don’t share the same privileges. One of the privileges is what the internet has come to call is “Geographical advantage,” which basically means that one was born in a place where there are no wars, no droughts or famines, people live a lush life, and in contrary to those with a “Geographical disadvantage,” which would mean having been born on those parts of the earth where the things listed above are imminent, where resources are scarce and people live a life full of misery and poverty, same is the case with the people living in Pakistan occupied Jammu and Kashmir. For many people living there, life is shaped by hardship in a way that those born in more stable places may never fully understand. The region is often discussed in political terms, but for the people who live there, the real issue is much simpler and much more immediate: daily survival. It is about whether electricity is affordable, whether food is within reach, whether roads are usable, whether hospitals can treat the sick, and whether young people can find work without leaving home.

What is happening there right now is not something that appeared overnight. It is the result of years of frustration building up. People have repeatedly raised concerns about rising prices, unemployment, poor infrastructure, weak services, and a sense that decisions are being made without them. When these problems keep piling up and nothing seems to change, anger becomes almost inevitable. This is also why the situation cannot be understood as a pandemic-era problem. The pandemic made things worse, but it did not create the deeper issues. Long before COVID-19, people in the region were already dealing with governance problems, slow development, and a feeling of being ignored. The pandemic simply exposed how fragile everything already was. If you ask when all of this started, the answer goes back to 1947, when Partition divided the subcontinent and the Kashmir conflict began. From that point on, the region became part of a larger dispute between India and Pakistan, and its people have lived under the shadow of that unresolved conflict ever since. Over time, political uncertainty became a permanent part of life, and development often took a back seat to strategy and control.

A major turning point came in the 1970s, when a formal governance structure was created for Azad Jammu and Kashmir. It was supposed to bring order and a clearer political system. On paper, it looked like a step toward local administration and self-rule. But in practice, it never gave people complete control over their own affairs. Real power remained limited, and many important decisions still sat outside the reach of ordinary local institutions. That is one of the main reasons people continue to criticize the system. It gives the appearance of self-government, but many residents feel that the reality is very different. They may have assemblies, councils, and elections, but if the most important decisions are still made elsewhere, the sense of ownership is weak. And when people do not feel ownership over their own future, frustration grows.

The problems people face in everyday life are very real. Many struggle with low incomes, high costs, joblessness, and poor access to basic services. Roads are often underdeveloped. Schools and hospitals may not function as they should. Electricity can be expensive or unreliable. In rural areas, these problems are even more visible. For a family trying to get through the month, these issues are not political talking points — they are daily realities.

There is also a gap between the better-off and the rest of the population, though it is often more about unequal opportunity than extreme wealth. Some districts and families are better connected to power, education, and economic opportunity, while others remain trapped in deprivation. So yes, there is inequality, but the deeper issue is that development has been uneven and unfairly distributed. This is why so many locals want basic things, not extravagant ones. They want cheaper electricity. They want food and flour at prices people can actually afford. They want jobs for young people. They want better schools, better hospitals, and better roads. They want local government to matter. They want their voices to count. And they want an end to the feeling that they are always being governed from above rather than being heard from within.

At its core, the story of Pakistan occupied Jammu and Kashmir is a story of distance — distance between rulers and the ruled, between promises and reality, between the life people are expected to accept and the life they actually live. It is a region where geography has not brought advantage, but burden. And for the people living there, that burden shows up every day in the cost of living, the lack of opportunity, and the struggle to be treated with dignity. So when we talk about the region, we should not talk only about maps or disputes. We should also talk about people. Because behind every political argument is a human reality, and in this case, that reality is one of hardship, waiting, and the hope that things might one day be different.

Email: sarmadhilal07@gmail.com