Locals in PoK protest as Islamabad takes away their jobs
Muzzafarabad (PoK), Mar 12 (ANI): People in Pakistan occupied Kashmir region took to the streets protesting against the national government and WAPDA- the Water and Power Development Authority for the sacking local workers from an under-construction Neelum-Jhelum hydropower project and their replacement with the 500 new employees from other parts of the country. Protestors are now demanding a clear policy disallowing the people from other parts of Pakistan getting employment in their region along with the reinstatement of those who were sacked. Asking Pakistani people to not come to their region, people of PoK have issued a statement saying any appointment against the will of the people of the region will not go ignored. They have also sought an immediate action from the government in providing employment to local people. Water and Power Development Authority, which has been acting at the commands of Islamabad has been mistreating the people of this region. Islamabad snatched away the lands of locals at the pretext of the development and prosperity in the region. However, not an iota of the dividends reaped out of such projects has been shared with the locals. They have even been thrown out off their jobs and vacancies have been filled with citizens from Islamabad, Karachi and other Punjabi Pakistani cities. Locals have lost their land, their resources and now throwing them out of their jobs exposes the true face of Pakistan and its novercal treatment of Kashmir while repeatedly claimed the region to be its own. In more than seven decades of misrule, the socio-economic standards of the people of this region have only worsened. Their pleas have fallen on deaf ears and the political dummies sent by Islamabad have involved in social repression and economic depredations, and when locals make their rightful demands; their voice is crushed with extreme high handedness. However, there seems to be a growing rebellion against the authorities which is certainly a sign of concern for people in Islamabad.
