What caused deadly protests in Pakistan-administered Kashmir? | Global News Podcast

Welcome to the global news podcast from. the BBC. Hello, I'm Oliver Conway and. today we're joined by our South Asia. specialist Anbarasan Ethirajan to talk. about Pakistan. Now, Pakistan has been. positioning itself as a key mediator in. the US Iran war, but it's experiencing. violence and political turmoil at home. Um, let's start in Pakistan administered. Kashmir. Tell us about the the deadly. election protest which have been taking. place there.

>> Well, if you look at the Pakistani media. newspapers today, there will be three. different stories. One is about the. ongoing uh tensions and violence in. Pakistan administered Kashmir. Second. one is the attack on a police check post. in a northwest in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and. also violence in Balochistan. So, that. clearly gives you a picture of what's. happening in Pakistan. Let's speak and. pick one by one. First, uh the ongoing. tensions in uh Pakistan administered. Kashmir. For weeks, uh civil rights.

group called Joint Awami Action. Committee have been holding sit-ins, demonstrations, and rallies with various. demands. One of their key demands being. they wanted electoral changes to the. local legislature. Basically, for 12. seats that are being reserved for people. who came from Indian administered. Kashmir. So, they say the civil rights. groups, they say that that gives them uh. disproportionate.

influence in regional legislature and. also this should be given to people who. are living in Pakistan administered. Kashmir, not outside elsewhere in. Pakistan. That has been the main demand. Now, according to various estimates, more than 30 people, some even say up to. 40, have been killed in the ongoing. clashes between security forces and the. civil rights group. And the internet has. been patchy for several weeks there. And. now the protesters they want to march.

from the city of Rawalakot to the. regional capital Muzaffarabad. Now the government has deployed. hundreds of even thousands of security. personnel there. And the government's. argument has been any change to the. regional legislature has to be done. through the constitution. That means you. have to change the constitution so it. cannot be done now. And in between the. elections are happening. The first phase. of the election was over. The next.

phases will be a two more. One on the. 2nd of August, one on the 10th. So a. tense situation prevails there now. >> And of course this area is very. politically sensitive, not least because. of the long-running dispute with India. >> Yes, the Kashmir region has been claimed. by both India and Pakistan in its. entirety, but they control only in part. And this region. led to wars between the two countries. And India's also deployed hundreds of.

thousands of troops. And it is battling. an anti-India insurgency in the Jammu. and Kashmir area, which is under the. control of India. And the Pakistan. administered Kashmir, you know, there. have been protests even before. That was. about you know, they wanted subsidized. food. And they also wanted to reduce. some of the perks for the regional. representatives. But this is the first. time where they see these uh clashes are. going on for weeks. So it is attracting. attention across the border as well. But.

at the same time several political. parties have have been criticizing the. government's handling. And civil society. groups saying that you know, dozens of. people and the protesters have been. killed. And the government banned the. Pakistani government banned this joint. Awami Action Committee last month as a. terror group. And they say that they. want to hold elections. And they have. rejected the demands of so far. >> Now, that is on the east of Pakistan. Looking to the west, the border with. Afghanistan, a recent UN report said.

that some 500 people had been killed. there, 500 civilians between October and. June. What is the latest in that area? >> Even last night, there was a major. attack on a police check post in Hangu. area of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in. which a 10 police officers were killed. 15 others were injured when the. government tried to rush in. reinforcements and the security forces. say they had killed 15 militants.

suspected to be from the. Tehrik-i-Taliban group. Now, there have. been a number of attacks on security. forces in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. This is bordering Afghanistan. Hundreds. of soldiers and insurgents and civilians. have been killed for several years now. Now, who is this TTP, the. Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan? They want an. Islamic governance in areas under their. control and they have been waging this. insurgency against the Pakistani. security forces for years now. Thousands.

of people have been killed. Pakistan is. accusing the Kabul administration now. that the Taliban authorities there of. providing a safe haven to these. insurgents and that has led to tensions. between Islamabad and Kabul. And. Pakistan carried out several air. strikes, drone attacks on what it claims. to be. suspected militant positions across the. border in Afghanistan. And in fact, that. has also led to border skirmishes. between the forces and that's where the.

UN says that hundreds of people, civilians, women and children have been. killed in these attacks in Afghanistan. because of these Pakistani attacks. However, Pakistan maintains that you. know, the Kabul administration, they are. providing as safe haven for these. militants which which is very. categorically rejected by the Taliban. authorities in Afghanistan. >> Now, you also mentioned Balochistan. What's going on there? >> Now, in the southwestern province of. Balochistan, there is an active.

insurgency. In fact, the claim for a. more autonomy or a separate region, Balochistan, has been going on for. decades there. The main group, which is. battling. in in that area, is Balochistan. Liberation Army, BLA, which has been. banned. by the Pakistani government. And what. they say is that the region is now rich. with the minerals, particularly the. mines are with the gold and copper. And. the federal administration, they have. been exploiting these mineral resources.

from this region, but they're not. getting to get getting anything in. return for the province. So, the. economic condition of the province. remains poor, and the people are not. gaining any advantage. But the Pakistani. government rejects these. accusations by various Baloch groups. And now, these Baloch rebels, they have. been attacking economic positions. In. fact, earlier this year, they staged a. very well-coordinated attack on 12. different places in Balochistan. That. was one of the biggest attacks. So, you.

have hundreds of soldiers and insurgents. and civilians have been killed in. Balochistan in the past few years with. this insurgency rising. It is also a key. economic area for Pakistan, not only for. Pakistan, but also for China, because. China is investing about 50 billion. dollars in this China-Pakistan Economic. Corridor. One of the key projects is. about the Gwadar Port in Balochistan. that connects all the way to China. China is also building up.

infrastructure. So, these Baloch rebels. have also carried out attacks on the. some of these Chinese projects. In fact, many the Chinese workers, they. were targeted. So, it is also having a. bigger ramification and this is the area. where earlier this year when the Trump. administration said they wanted to. invest more than a billion dollars. to invest in this. rich mineral area and some of these. mines. >> Now, even while it's suffering all this.

turmoil at home, Pakistan is active on. the world stage. It signed defense. agreements with Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. What will those Gulf states be getting. out of it? >> Now, what is happening in the Gulf. region is also having an impact on. Pakistan and vice versa. Now, you see. that US has been the net security. provider for many Gulf states like Saudi. Arabia, Qatar, and the UAE, and for. several other countries. Now, with the.

war with Iran, the situation is. changing. And about 3 years ago, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia signed. military pact, a defense agreement, which is like what they call as attack. on one country will be treated as an. attack on both the countries. They also. talk about defense cooperation. and intelligence sharing. But, how far. it is going to be practical, that has. been the question even though there have. been demands about why Pakistan is not. involved with the Houthi rebels. attacking Saudi Arabia. Pakistan's.

neighbor is Iran and he doesn't want to. antagonize Iran at this stage. So, they. have the geographical compulsion. They're not actively involved in the. ongoing conflict, but they are mediating. between Iran and the US. And with the. Kuwait, which is a slightly. softened version of the agreement with. Saudi, it was not about the mutual. defense pact. It is more about. cooperation. So, what this shows is Gulf. is very important for Pakistan. Pakistan.

wants to make sure that there is a. stability. Stability there is important. for Pakistan's economy because Pakistan. gets about 40 billion dollars in. remittances from workers abroad. Nearly. half of them comes from the Gulf region. because millions of Pakistani workers. are there. So, with the changing. dynamics in the Gulf region, you know, there are you see that many players. coming in. And some of the Gulf states. like Saudi Arabia and Kuwait and even. Qatar and Turkey are also talking about. a defense cooperation with Pakistan.

because Pakistan has a very strong army. It's a It has nuclear weapons. And it is. also well connected in the Islamic. world. And that is why some of these. Gulf states, now looking at what is. happening, how they are being targeted. by Iran, they wanted an alternative. security mechanism to protect. themselves. That's why they have reached. out to Pakistan. >> Now, arguably, Pakistan's biggest. diplomatic success was bringing the US. and Iran together to sign that interim. peace deal in the middle of June. But.

the memorandum of understanding, as it. was called, seems to be falling apart. So, what is Pakistan doing now? >> In fact, today a Pakistani foreign. minister spokesperson was talking about. how they are trying their best. with asking both parties, both the. United States and Iran to return to the. negotiating table. Pakistan still says. that there is room for diplomacy and. that they don't want any escalation in. the Strait of Hormuz because it is going. to have an impact on their economy and.

energy supplies. And that's why even. today they are urging both parties now. return to the negotiating table. >> Ambassador, thank you. Ambassador Aitzaz. Ahsan, our South Asia specialist. If. you'd like to hear more from the Global. News podcast, click the link below. But. for now, thanks for watching.