A tale of two Kashmirs: As PoK resents Pakistan’s exploitation, India should showcase developments in J&K

The escalating street protests across Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) have cast a spotlight on the profound and growing discontent in the region, stemming from approximately 75 years of maladministration by the Pakistani establishment.

Pakistan’s appropriation of a third of Kashmir is, in fact, a conundrum. While PoK holds immense strategic significance for Pakistan, its economic viability is dubious due to a dearth of industrialisation and an inhospitable topography that demands substantial subsidies to sustain it.

In stark contrast, India controls two-thirds of Kashmir, a region blessed with fertile valleys and towering mountains of unparalleled scenic splendor. The PoK, particularly the Gilgit-Baltistan area, may boast breathtaking vistas, but its average elevation of over 15,000 feet renders it a harsh and unproductive land.

Over the past decade, India’s robust economic growth has catalysed a surge in resource allocation to the part of Kashmir under its control. Conversely, Pakistan’s economy has been on a catastrophic decline, leaving PoK heavily dependent on remittances from abroad. It has become a dilapidated and forlorn place. In the 2022-23 budget, India earmarked $23 billion for Kashmir, while Pakistan could muster only a paltry one billion dollars.

New Delhi’s financial outlay dwarfs Islamabad’s to such an extent that comparisons between the two regions are no longer tenable. Projections for 2023–24 indicate that Kashmir’s GDP will soar by 10 per cent, outpacing even India’s national average. Indian Kashmir boasts four airports compared to PoK’s two, with air traffic in the former being twelve times greater. Indian Kashmir also has nearly ten times the hospital beds, and its inflation rate stands at 8 per cent, a stark contrast to PoK’s 37 per cent.

For two generations, Kashmiris in the Pakistan-occupied territory have known only patronising handouts and mounting misery. Two pivotal disparities between the provinces are road connectivity, which facilitates the movement of goods and services, and human capital, bolstered by education and vocational training.

India has been on a relentless road-building spree in Kashmir. Udhampur in Jammu ranks as the third highest district in road construction in India over the last five years. The chasm between the two enclaves is now approaching unbridgeable proportions.

Moreover, PoK feels shortchanged as some of its most valuable parts are controlled by proxies through the military and the Punjabi elite. There is also mounting resentment against Chinese involvement, particularly in power projects that are perceived as expropriating vital Kashmiri assets. Corruption has tainted Pakistan’s efforts to industrialise PoK.

The Mirpur industrial zone debacle in the late ’90s, where most industrial plots never materialised due to graft and lack of electricity, is a prime example. Similarly, the Neelam Jhelum hydroelectric project suffered massive cost overruns, and much of the generated electricity feeds non-Kashmiri grids, while PoK endures regular power cuts.

With the advent of technology, citizens of occupied Kashmir have a newfound perspective on the prosperity across the valley. The stark disparity in job availability and poverty, compared to the affluence of Jammu and Kashmir—one of India’s wealthiest provinces per capita—is stoking greater resentment.

This is an opportune moment for India to showcase Kashmir’s success. This summer, India staged an F4 race against the majestic backdrop of Dal Lake in Srinagar. As the cars sped by, dust was stirred in Muzaffarabad, the capital of PoK. They realised it’s a race they have lost. When the dust settles, Islamabad might confront an insurgency in Kashmir of an intensity it had never anticipated. India must deftly play its Kashmir card.

The writer is a senior journalist with expertise in defence. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect Firstpost’s views.