The truth is stark, data-backed, and irrefutable: India is building lives in Jammu and Kashmir. Pakistan is destroying them in PoJK.

In the ongoing war of narratives between India and Pakistan over Jammu & Kashmir, facts have finally caught up with fiction. While Pakistan peddles a tired tale of prosperity in Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir (PoJK) and Gilgit-Baltistan (GB), the truth tells a dramatically different story, one of neglect, repression, and economic decay on its side, and of transformation, investment, and democratic inclusion in Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir.

Budgetary Commitment: India’s Investments Leave Pakistan Behind

Let’s begin with the basics—money.

The development budget for Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) in 2025–26 stands at a remarkable ₹1,12,310 crore (USD 12.9 billion), reflecting India’s strong financial commitment to the region’s growth. In sharp contrast, the Annual Development Programme for Pakistan-occupied Jammu & Kashmir (PoJK) amounts to just PKR 49 billion (USD 1.77 billion).

On a per capita basis, the disparity is even more striking: India allocates approximately USD 1,032 per person in J&K, while Pakistan spends only USD 393 per person in PoJK.

India’s per capita investment in J&K is nearly three times what Pakistan spends in PoJK. That alone exposes the hollowness of Pakistan’s claims of parity or superiority in developmental efforts. These aren’t just numbers; they represent hospitals built, schools upgraded, roads constructed, and lives improved.

Education: A Tale of Two Systems

India has placed a strong emphasis on educational excellence in Jammu & Kashmir, transforming the region into an emerging hub of academic and professional institutions. Today, J&K is home to nine state universities, two central universities, and four Institutes of National Importance—including IIT Jammu, IIM Jammu, NIT Srinagar, and NIFT Srinagar.

The region also boasts eleven medical colleges, fourteen engineering colleges, and two AIIMS campuses—one operational in Samba and another upcoming in Awantipora. In stark contrast, Pakistan-occupied Jammu & Kashmir (PoJK) lags far behind with only seven universities and four medical colleges. Compounding the problem are chronic shortages of qualified faculty, poor remuneration, and mismanaged institutions—conditions that render PoJK’s education system ill-equipped to prepare its youth for the future.

The contrast is equally severe in terms of job creation. In PoJK, youth are either absorbed into the government sector or pushed into the Pakistan Army’s Northern Light Infantry. Meanwhile, in J&K, expanding industry, tourism, and startups are opening up new avenues for educated youth, with the support of central government schemes like Startup India, Digital India, and the Industrial Development Scheme for the UT.

Healthcare: Pakistan’s Neglect, India’s Transformation

Healthcare is another area where Indian-administered Jammu & Kashmir is significantly ahead of its Pakistani-occupied counterpart. With a total of 5,534 health institutions—comprising 4,433 government and 1,101 private facilities—J&K maintains a doctor-patient ratio of 1:1658, reflecting a relatively robust healthcare infrastructure.

In stark contrast, PoJK has only 73 hospitals and health centres, with an alarming doctor-patient ratio of 1:4916, exposing the deep neglect and systemic healthcare crisis in the region under Pakistani control.

J&K’s Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) is 23, three times better than PoJK. In 2023, J&K was declared #1 in India for IMR reduction, slashing it by 8 points in one year. AIIMS, district hospitals, telemedicine, and Ayushman Bharat cards are bridging the last-mile health delivery gap.

By contrast, PoJK residents have to protest for basic access to emergency care, suffer under dilapidated facilities, and rely on non-local doctors due to persistent staff shortages.

Freedom, Democracy & Governance: J&K Joins India; PoJK Remains Pakistan’s Colony

Since the abrogation of Article 370 in 2019, Jammu & Kashmir has been fully and firmly integrated into the constitutional and political framework of India. The region now enjoys full representation in both houses of the Indian Parliament, participates in the nationwide electoral process, and benefits from central welfare schemes on par with other Indian states.

Additionally, the implementation of Panchayati Raj has empowered local governance, bringing decision-making closer to the grassroots and strengthening democratic institutions in the Union Territory.

Meanwhile, PoJK and GB are not even listed in Article 1 of Pakistan’s own Constitution. Their legal status is determined by the highly dubious Karachi Agreement of 1949, signed behind closed doors without any GB representation. PoJK is run via an ‘interim constitution,’ and GB via an executive order, not a law passed by any legislature.

Worse, PoJK’s constitution bans anyone from even questioning its accession to Pakistan. Section 4(7)(3) of the 1974 Act makes any political expression against Pakistan’s claim a punishable offence. This is not democracy, it’s colonialism in disguise.

Discrimination, Repression, and Sectarian Violence

While J&K thrives in a secular, pluralistic democracy, where Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs, and Christians co-exist, PoJK and GB are trapped in systemic discrimination.

In Pakistan-occupied Jammu & Kashmir (PoJK) and Gilgit-Baltistan (GB), religious persecution and sectarian discrimination remain deeply entrenched. Since Ahmadis, are constitutionally declared as non-Muslims in Pakistan, they face daily persecution and systemic exclusion from public life.

In Gilgit-Baltistan, Shia Muslims—despite forming the majority—suffer from state-backed discrimination, targeted killings, and institutional bias. Sectarian violence is alarmingly common, and authorities have repeatedly failed to ensure basic law and order in key areas such as Gilgit, Skardu, and Chilas.

Enforced Disappearances and Suppression of Dissent

While Indian-administered Jammu & Kashmir enjoys a vibrant media landscape, active political debate, and the freedom to protest without fear, Pakistan-occupied Jammu & Kashmir (PoJK) and Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) have become zones of repression for activists and dissenters. Journalists, students, and political figures routinely disappear without a trace, often without any official explanation.

The United Kashmir People’s National Party (UKPNP) and the Awami Action Committee have consistently raised concerns about enforced disappearances and custodial killings. In a chilling incident from May 2025, two young men from PoJK, Zarnosh Naseem and Jibran Naseem, were executed by Pakistani forces and falsely branded as “terrorists,” further intensifying public outrage and highlighting the climate of fear and impunity in the region.

Such acts have triggered widespread unrest. In both 2024 and 2025, mass protests swept across PoJK and GB demanding lower electricity tariffs, subsidised flour, and basic governance. Islamabad responded not with reform, but with detentions, intimidation, and media blackouts.

Infrastructure and Connectivity: A World Apart

India is rapidly connecting Jammu & Kashmir to the rest of the country through a modern transport revolution. The recently inaugurated Chenab Bridge, now the world’s highest railway bridge, stands as a symbol of engineering excellence and integration.

Simultaneously, the Delhi-Amritsar-Katra-Srinagar expressway is progressing at a swift pace, promising seamless travel and economic connectivity. Jammu & Kashmir now boasts over 1.4 lakh kilometers of road network—more than any region with similar terrain—significantly enhancing mobility, trade, and access to essential services.

Meanwhile, in PoJK and GB, poor road infrastructure, irregular power supply, and limited internet access have crippled economic activity. Tourism, which flourishes in Indian J&K, is negligible in PoJK due to insecurity and lack of facilities.

Natural Resources: Looted by Pakistan, Denied to Locals

Despite their mineral richness, PoJK and GB have no control over local resources. Coal, uranium, water, and timber are all exploited by Pakistan’s elite and military-industrial complex. Locals get no royalties, no jobs, and no say.

In Indian J&K, recent policy changes have encouraged local entrepreneurship in mining, horticulture, handicrafts, and IT, with transparent auction processes and guaranteed revenue sharing with panchayats and district bodies.

A Contrast That Can No Longer Be Denied

It’s no longer a contest between two narratives—it’s a contrast between two stark realities. On one side is Jammu & Kashmir: democratic, rapidly developing, and increasingly integrated with the world’s fastest-growing major economy. On the other side lie Pakistan-occupied Jammu & Kashmir (PoJK) and Gilgit-Baltistan, where people are denied basic rights, exploited by the Pakistani state, and left to languish under military domination and a string of broken promises.

Pakistan must stop using PoJK as cannon fodder for its failed Kashmir policy. The world must now call it out for what it is, an occupying force in a region it neither nurtures nor understands.

The truth is stark, data-backed, and irrefutable: India is building lives in Jammu and Kashmir. Pakistan is destroying them in PoJK.

Disclaimer: Views expressed by writers in this section are their own and do not reflect Milli Chronicle’s point-of-view.

Pakistan’s pattern of dependence—on U.S. security guarantees, Chinese investment, Iranian goodwill—makes it a client state, not a sovereign actor on the world stage.

Amid the fiery conflict between Israel and Iran, Pakistan’s military finds itself walking a geopolitical tightrope: publicly aligning with Iran, even hinting at nuclear retaliation against Israel, while simultaneously clinging to U.S. military favor in its campaign against Iranian nuclear assets.

This schizophrenic stance underscores a decades‑long pattern: Pakistan’s “deep state” and its military‑intel establishment have repeatedly sold the nation’s sovereignty to whichever patron offers the greatest leverage. The result? An arrested development and chronic underachievement.

Last week, Iran’s IRGC commander Mohsen Rezaei claimed on state television that “Pakistan has told us that if Israel uses nuclear missiles, we will also attack it with nuclear weapons”. Pakistan neither publicly confirmed nor denied the claim. Yet within days, its foreign ministry condemned U.S. airstrikes on Iran’s nuclear sites—Fordow, Natanz, Isfahan—calling them “gravely concerning” and flagging possible regional escalation.

This denunciation came just after Pakistan endorsed President Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize over his de‑escalation efforts with India. In barely a 48‑hour span, Islamabad praised Trump for stabilizing South Asia and then rebuked his bombs.

Meanwhile, Pakistan’s army chief Field Marshal Asim Munir was in Washington for a lavish White House lunch—where Trump publicly lauded Pakistani restraint after the India‑Pakistan missile flare‑up in May. This whitewashing of Islamabad’s contradictions—welcoming Pakistani nuclear diplomacy while supporting the strikes—reveals much about the transactional nature of this partnership.

Deep State by Design

Pakistan’s military establishment, colloquially “the deep state,” has never seen itself as servant, but rather as master. Since 1947, it has orchestrated coups, mediated foreign policy, and directed economic as well as strategic priorities. Civilian governance remains a veneer. Power accrues through Pakistan’s full‑spectrum nuclear deterrence doctrine—designed less for defense than for bargaining over India, the U.S., and other regional powers.

The economic cost of this grandstanding is steep. Decades of diverting scarce resources into military programs—sometimes backed by Chinese or U.S. aid, sometimes clandestinely through nuclear proliferation networks like A.Q. Khan’s—have starved Pakistan of investment in education, health, infrastructure, and industry. Its economy limps under chronic debt; urban centers are choked; public services are threadbare.

Selling the Nation to the Highest Bidder

This Faustian bargain continues. Pakistan courts the U.S. when it needs military hardware, diplomatic cover, and economic relief. As soon as Washington turns, Islamabad pivots to Iran—or China, or Russia. Recent Indian‑express analysis notes Islamabad’s “delicate balancing act” shaped by anxieties over India and a need for U.S. patronage. But the result is strategic incoherence and international mistrust.

The core of the problem is corruption at the top. The deep state uses its clout to capture resources. Elite groups extract rents from development budgets, shield militant proxies, and arrogate foreign policy. Civil society and democracy exist in name only; real power resides with generals who see the nation as a chessboard. As a result, growth stalls, inequality deepens, and Pakistan’s potential remains unrealized.

The Nuclear Catch‑22

Pakistan’s flirtation with nuclear brinkmanship—hinting at retaliation for Israel, pointing B‑2 bombers at Iran—exposes the inherent contradiction: nukes are for deterrence, not diplomacy. Instead of a mature nuclear strategy aimed at securing peace and economic stability, the military uses nuclear ambiguity for maximum geopolitical returns. That has brought fleeting headlines and foreign funds, but no sustainable development.

Pakistan must ask itself: is it raising its geopolitical profile, or holding itself back through strategic schizophrenia? Its pattern of dependence—on U.S. security guarantees, Chinese investment, Iranian goodwill—makes it a client state, not a sovereign actor on the world stage.

A Way Forward: Decouple the Deep State

For Pakistan to unlock its potential, it must dismantle the deep‑state’s monopoly. Demilitarize foreign policy, entrust civilian leadership with economic and diplomatic agendas. Cut off free rides to jihadi proxies that generate short‑term geopolitical cachet but long‑term global isolation. Redirect resources from nuclear brinkmanship into clean energy, literacy, and healthcare.

Otherwise, Pakistan’s “balancing act” is nothing but a balancing of bids: play the U.S. for aid, Iran for regional rapprochement, China for infrastructure—until the next pivot. But each shift deepens instability and stifles growth. The people, not the generals, suffer.

In the end, only a break from this militarized cycle—an embrace of genuine democracy and domestic investment—can free Pakistan from being the world’s perpetual geopolitical rentier. Anything less is selling its soul, again.

Disclaimer: Views expressed by writers in this section are their own and do not reflect Milli Chronicle’s point-of-view.