Geopolitics blinds world to POK unrest

In recent months, the world has focused on Pakistan playing the mediator, trying to bring Washington and Tehran back to the table, while missing Islamabad's crackdown on protests in POK. Meanwhile, the electoral process has unfolded amid unrest, with Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) emerging as the largest party, winning 25 of the 38 directly elected seats decided so far in the 53-member assembly.

That outcome is hardly surprising. Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) boycotted the polls, citing the absence of a peaceful electoral environment and expressing solidarity with protesters. Joint Awami Action Committee (JAAC), a grassroots alliance demanding economic relief and greater political representation, was proscribed in June under the Azad Jammu and Kashmir Anti-Terrorism Act 2014. JAAC has opposed the 12 assembly seats reserved for refugees from the Kashmir Valley, arguing that they give Islamabad undue influence over politics in POK. Economic hardship, inflation and grievances over governance have further fuelled the protests. Islamabad's use of force, the suppression of a grassroots movement and internet shutdowns have received far less international attention than Pakistan's role as a diplomatic intermediary in the Iran crisis.

That is a troubling inconsistency for a world that claims to value popular sovereignty, peaceful protest and political freedom. The protesters in Rawalakot, and the families of those killed in successive rounds of unrest, deserve to be heard. Their grievances cannot be swept under the rug because it serves current geopolitics. Selectively deciding whose protests and human rights matter is not merely hypocrisy - it strikes at the credibility of the liberal democratic ideal.