1259hrs:
Translated thus:
Entered into its 5th day has this sit-in protest in Muzaffarabad, against the water aggression of Pakistan and China. Close (stop / end) this water aggression!
End...
As you can read at the end of the tweet, they are beckoning Pakistani media to take notice.
Unfortunately, that country's media has traditionally been slow or even non-existent when it comes to coverage of issues that - by definition - question Pakistan's control of this territory.
This either indicates that Pakistani civil society is weak or that the State is unashamed of its hypocritical position: viz. advocate freedom for the Valley of Kashmir but suppress valid questions over your own presence in Jammu & Kashmir.
This internal contradiction is what I describe as the internal enemy of Pakistan. You cannot attract investment into your country or expect the world to trade with you if you advocate one thing and do another.
Pakistan is also concealing its poor utilisation of water as well as its inequitable distribution. Resources are controlled and used primarily for securing the State rather than enabling it to flourish.
There is little point in heavily protecting an empty shell.
With time, the neighbourhood as well as significant actors in the rest of the world will question Pakistan's mis-handling of the world's most precious resource.
A resource that others could demonstrably prove that they can utilise better.
I can't imagine a conflict worse than that.
In the digital age, it would be difficult to conceal inefficiency or pure lust and greed with Islamic metaphors.
The Pakistani State has many answers to give on its role in AJK and GB. By restricting its own media from honestly covering this territory, the Pakistani State is inflicting heavy injury on itself.
If humanity doesn't wake up, water conflict could one day escalate to being the most significant driver of global conflict. The internal narrative was stifled in Mirpur (ref. Mangla) in the 1960s but it might not be stifled in Muzaffarabad (Neelam-Jhelum) 50 years later:
پاکستان اور چین کی آبی جارحیت کے خلاف مظفرآباد میں احتجاجی دھرنا پانچویں روز میں داخل .آبی جارحیت بند کرو.#pakistanmedia #Pakistan#n pic.twitter.com/EXG7OBQJaZ— Mir Afzaal Sulehria (@sulehria_afzaal) March 29, 2019
Translated thus:
Entered into its 5th day has this sit-in protest in Muzaffarabad, against the water aggression of Pakistan and China. Close (stop / end) this water aggression!
End...
As you can read at the end of the tweet, they are beckoning Pakistani media to take notice.
Unfortunately, that country's media has traditionally been slow or even non-existent when it comes to coverage of issues that - by definition - question Pakistan's control of this territory.
This either indicates that Pakistani civil society is weak or that the State is unashamed of its hypocritical position: viz. advocate freedom for the Valley of Kashmir but suppress valid questions over your own presence in Jammu & Kashmir.
This internal contradiction is what I describe as the internal enemy of Pakistan. You cannot attract investment into your country or expect the world to trade with you if you advocate one thing and do another.
Pakistan is also concealing its poor utilisation of water as well as its inequitable distribution. Resources are controlled and used primarily for securing the State rather than enabling it to flourish.
There is little point in heavily protecting an empty shell.
With time, the neighbourhood as well as significant actors in the rest of the world will question Pakistan's mis-handling of the world's most precious resource.
A resource that others could demonstrably prove that they can utilise better.
I can't imagine a conflict worse than that.
In the digital age, it would be difficult to conceal inefficiency or pure lust and greed with Islamic metaphors.
The Pakistani State has many answers to give on its role in AJK and GB. By restricting its own media from honestly covering this territory, the Pakistani State is inflicting heavy injury on itself.
#Stop Pakistan and chaina water Terrorism in muzaffarabad pok pic.twitter.com/z5pfpWUA52— Mir Afzaal Sulehria (@sulehria_afzaal) March 29, 2019
If you study the slogans chanted in this video, civil society in AJK targets the Pakistani institution WAPDA (Water and Power Development Authority) and not the Pakistani State when criticising what is essentially State policy.
The intelligence agents who patrol public opinion in AJK don't work for WAPDA, they work for the security agencies of the Pakistani State. Hence, WAPDA is a soft target and one that civil society can mobilise against society wide and gain open support without the seedy controversy of riling the Pakistani State, which earns you the slur of being anti-Islam. This is so because you would be openly rebelling against the fortress of Islam viz. Pakistan.
So, the public rights narrative becomes stunted and then when negotiations do emerge to end the protests, personal interests are mobilised to muddy the narrative even further. The protestors become even more and more isolated over time and the cycle repeats itself periodically.
From Mirpur in the 1960s to Muzaffarabad in the 2010s.
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