India on Tuesday described the so-called local body elections in Pakistan-occupied Jammu-Kashmir (PoK) a "complete farce," asserting that such "hollow" exercises cannot hide the ground reality in the region.
The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) strongly criticised Pakistan's crackdown on protesters in PoJK and said the international community should see through the "flimsy veneer" of Islamabad's "hypocritical lecturing" on human rights.
The PoK has been witnessing massive protests since last month over inflated living costs, alleged administrative apathy and political discrimination and atrocities against minorities.
"This so-called local election in PoJK is a complete farce. The real happening is that of public protests and wanton killings by Pakistani forces. Such hollow exercises cannot hide reality," MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said at a regular media briefing.
"Since June this year, at least 90 civilians have lost their lives in the continuing crackdown," he said.
Jaiswal said the Pakistani establishment has "answered public discontent with bullets, blackouts, intimidation and repression, and now seeks to manufacture legitimacy through a hollow electoral exercise"."It must be held accountable, and the world should see through the flimsy veneer of Pakistan's hypocritical lecturing on human rights," he said.
Jaiswal was responding to a question on elections in PoJK.
The Joint Awami Action Committee (JAAC) has been leading the protests amid local body elections in PoJK.
Pakistani security forces used lethal force against the JAAC during its long march from Rawalakote to Muzaffarabad late last month and the crackdown reportedly resulted in the deaths of 40 civilians and left over 33 protesters injured.
The JAAC has officially appealed to the United Nations Human Rights Council and international rights organisations for an immediate, independent investigation into what it described as "unlawful killings".