“Kashmir Solidarity Day”: Exposing 75 Years of Information Warfare
Every year on 5 February, Pakistan marks Kashmir Solidarity Day with speeches, rallies, posters, and dramatic claims of “human rights abuses” in India’s Jammu & Kashmir. But while the slogans look spontaneous, the machinery behind them is anything but. This article looks beyond the slogans to expose how Pakistan systematically manufactures global opinion on Kashmir not through facts, but through lobbying firms, front NGOs, paid protests, and digital manipulation.
Welcome to the world of narrative warfare.
Step 1: Lobbying in the West – Renting Sympathy by the Hour
Pakistan’s first battlefield is not Kashmir-it’s Washington, London, Brussels, and Geneva.
For years, Pakistan has hired professional lobbying firms in the US and Europe to:
- Arrange meetings with lawmakers
- Draft “concern letters” on Kashmir
- Insert Pakistan-friendly language into policy discussions
This isn’t activism it’s a paid service, no different from corporate lobbying. The only difference is that instead of selling oil or weapons, the product is victimhood.
Fact- Pakistan’s own Parliament barely functions, journalists disappear at home, yet lobbyists abroad speak passionately about “democracy in Kashmir.”
Step 2: The NGO Ecosystem – Human Rights with Selective Vision
A key tool in Pakistan’s narrative arsenal is a network of NGOs that appear independent but echo the same talking points.
Common features of these NGOs:
- Kashmir focused only (no Balochistan, no PoK, no Gilgit-Baltistan)
- Reports filled with anonymous sources
- Heavy emotional language, light verifiable data
- Same phrases recycled across multiple reports
These NGOs submit reports to:
- UN Human Rights bodies
- European Parliament committees
- International media outlets
Curious pattern:
Disappearances in Balochistan? Silence.
Journalists jailed in Pakistan? Silence.
Forced conversions of minorities? Silence.
But Kashmir? Suddenly, everyone is an expert.
Human rights, it seems, are geographically selective.
Step 3: Diaspora Protests – Crowd Size by Budget, Not Belief
Every Kashmir Solidarity Day, you’ll see:
- Protests outside Indian embassies
- Demonstrations in London, Toronto, and Brussels
- Placards with identical fonts and slogans
These protests are often:
- Organised by Pakistan-linked groups
- Attended by people bused in from far locations
- Dominated by Pakistan flags rather than Kashmiri voices
Reality check:
If the issue were truly Kashmiri, the protests wouldn’t look like a Pakistan National Day parade. Even more telling—actual Kashmiris from India are rarely invited to speak. Narratives are scripted, not discussed.
Step 4: Think Tanks & “Experts” – Recycling Authority
Pakistan has also mastered the art of producing “experts”:
- Former officials rebranded as analysts
- Regular columnists with predictable opinions
- Panelists who appear only on Kashmir-related discussions
These voices:
- Cite each other
- Quote the same reports
- Appear repeatedly on sympathetic platforms
It creates an illusion of consensus what psychologists call echo-chamber credibility. When five people keep quoting each other, it doesn’t become truth. It just becomes louder.
Step 5: Digital Propaganda – Bots, Trends, and Template Tweets
In the age of social media, Pakistan’s narrative war has gone digital.
Key tactics include:
- Coordinated hashtag campaigns on X (Twitter)
- Accounts posting identical content within seconds
- Old images repurposed as “latest atrocities”
- Edited videos without context
Independent digital forensics studies have repeatedly found inauthentic behavior patterns—classic signs of coordinated influence operations.
Fact: If outrage is scheduled at exactly 9:00 AM GMT every year, it’s not organic it’s calendar-based activism.
Step 6: Why This Narrative Is Losing Power
Despite all this effort, Pakistan’s Kashmir narrative is losing traction globally. Why?
Because:
- The world now views South Asia through the lens of terrorism and stability
- Pakistan’s own track record on terror financing is well documented
- Jammu & Kashmir has seen declining violence and rising normalcy
- India’s position is consistent, Pakistan’s keeps changing
Most importantly, narratives collapse when reality contradicts them. You can lobby capitals, fund NGOs, and trend hashtags but you can’t fake stability forever.
For decades, Pakistan sold the world a narrative: Kashmiri Muslims need to be free from Hindu India, and only under Pakistan’s protective wing can they achieve autonomy. This was the ideological backbone of the Kashmir Solidarity Day message. The reality? Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir is a military dictatorship where freedom exists only in speeches.
According to Human Rights Watch and multiple UN reports:
- Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) conducts extensive surveillance on press and pro-independence groups
- Arbitrary arrests, torture, and enforced disappearances are documented practices
- Political repression is systemic: anyone opposing Pakistan’s position on Kashmir is barred from contesting regional elections
- Anti-terrorism laws are weaponized against journalists, civil society activists, and anyone expressing dissent
- The POK government has minimal power, real authority rests with Pakistani federal authorities
Brad Adams, Asia Director at Human Rights Watch, stated bluntly in 2006: “Although ‘azad’ means ‘free,’ the residents of Azad Kashmir (POK) are anything but free.” Nearly two decades later, the condition has only worsened
The Big Question: If Pakistan Truly Cared About Kashmiris…
Then why:
- No elections in PoK?
- No press freedom in Gilgit-Baltistan?
- No mention of Kashmiri Pandits?
- No accountability for terror groups operating openly?
The answer is uncomfortable but simple:
Kashmir is not a humanitarian cause for Pakistan – it’s a political tool.
And Kashmir Solidarity Day is less about solidarity, more about strategy.
The 2025 PoK Protests: When Propaganda Met Reality
In October 2025, Pakistan’s entire “benevolent guardian” narrative collapsed spectacularly. Massive protests erupted across Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir, with scale and intensity unprecedented in nearly four decades. The trigger? Economic collapse and political marginalization. But the message was crystal clear: Pakistan doesn’t own us, and we won’t be your propaganda tool.
Protesters didn’t chant anti-India slogans. They chanted against Pakistan, attacking the military’s dominance and Islamabad’s exploitation. Over 100 security vehicles were torched. Soldiers were briefly held hostage. Internet was shut down
Conclusion:
Always remeber, Advocacy listens. Propaganda shouts. Advocacy allows debate. Propaganda demands belief. On 5 February, the world doesn’t witness solidarity it witnesses a well rehearsed performance, designed to distract from Pakistan’s own unresolved crises.
The irony? The louder the propaganda gets, the clearer the reality becomes.
