- Former J&K top cop SP Vaid criticised Pakistan's policy in PoK
- He said terrorists Hafiz Saeed and Masood Azhar receive VIP treatment while civilians are killed
- The former top cop also alleged large-scale human rights violations in the region.
Launching a scathing attack on Pakistan's policies in Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir (PoJK), former Jammu and Kashmir Director General of Police SP Vaid said it was shocking that globally designated terrorists such as Hafiz Saeed and Masood Azhar were treated like “sons-in-law” while peaceful civil society leaders faced terror tags and cash bounties.
In an exclusive interview with NDTV on the situation in PoJK, Vaid said, “Globally designated terrorists like Hafiz Saeed and Masood Azhar are accorded VVIP treatment by the Pakistani establishment. They move freely, get state protection, and are treated like sons-in-law.”
In stark contrast, he pointed to the Joint Awami Action Committee (JAAC), a civil society group that has spearheaded public protests in PoJK over inflation, rights and governance, and said it had been declared a terror organisation.
“A bounty of Rs 1 crore has been announced on the heads of JAAC leaders,” Vaid said. “This is the irony. Those who raise their voice for basic rights are hunted, while those who export terror globally are protected.”
The former top cop also alleged large-scale human rights violations in the region.
“There are credible reports suggesting that more than 5,000 people have disappeared during the last three decades. Anyone who dared to raise his voice against the Pakistan Army was picked up and made to disappear,” he said.
Vaid further alleged that Islamabad was systematically altering the demographic profile of PoJK.
“Pakistan has been changing the demographic profile of the region. Sunnis are being settled in Shia-dominated Gilgit-Baltistan. Similarly, ex-servicemen from Punjab are being pushed into PoJK,” he said.
According to Vaid, the recent wave of protests across PoJK is the result of years of accumulated public anger.
“These protests are basically an outcome of the anger that people have been carrying in their hearts for years, anger against repression, against demographic change, and against the denial of basic dignity,” he added.
Vaid's remarks come at a time when PoJK has witnessed widespread protests led by the JAAC over rising wheat flour prices, power tariffs and the alleged lack of political rights. Pakistan recently banned the JAAC and announced cash rewards for some of its leaders, a move that has drawn criticism from rights groups.
