India rejects Pakistani claim on Indus Valley Civilization, calls PoJK elections a ‘sham’

New Delhi, 28 July. India has completely rejected Pakistan’s claims regarding Indus Valley Civilization, saying that the country which has been promoting cross-border terrorism, religious fanaticism and violence for decades, cannot claim any pluralistic cultural heritage.

Along with this, India also termed the assembly elections being conducted in Pakistan occupied Jammu and Kashmir (PoJK) as a sham process and termed it as an attempt to hide its illegal occupation. External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said these things in the weekly press conference on Tuesday.

Reply to Pakistan on Indus Valley Civilization

Questioning the record of protection of minorities and their cultural identity in Pakistan, Randhir Jaiswal said that such a country’s claim on any common or pluralistic cultural heritage cannot be credible. He said that Pakistan’s record in protecting minorities and their cultural rights has been very poor and such claims are mere pretense.

This reaction of India came after the statement of Pakistan’s Information and Broadcasting Minister Ataullah Tarar, in which he had said that the identity of the people of Pakistan is linked to the banks of the Indus River and its tributaries.

PoJK elections said to be an attempt to hide illegal occupation

India also criticized the assembly elections being held in Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir. Randhir Jaiswal said that the entire Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh, including the areas under illegal occupation of Pakistan, are an integral and inalienable part of India. He said that the so-called elections being held in PoJK are only an attempt to legitimize Pakistan’s illegal occupation and divert attention from the serious human rights violations taking place there.

Questions raised on protests too

Jaiswal said that the ongoing protests in PoJK are the result of Pakistan’s economic policies, administrative repression and depriving people of fundamental rights. He said that the continuous protests in the area reflect this dissatisfaction.

Allegations of violence and election irregularities

According to local media reports, the atmosphere in PoJK remained tense during the first phase of elections due to incidents of violent clashes, allegations of electoral irregularities and deaths of political activists. At the same time, there have been reports of death of many people and injuries of many people during the protest march of Joint Awami Action Committee (JAAC). Some videos have also gone viral on social media, purportedly showing Pakistani security forces firing on protesters.