PoK Protests, Trade Boycott and Water Pressure Shake Pakistan as Modi Hints at Next Strategic Move.

In a powerful convergence of ground-level unrest and high-level strategic signalling, recent headlines around “Pakistani products trending in PoK” and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s hard-hitting remarks from Lucknow underscore a decisive shift in the regional balance following the intense military and diplomatic escalation of early 2025.

What is being framed as a “trend” in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir is, in reality, a symbol of deep economic distress and open defiance, as hyperinflation, unaffordable essentials like flour and electricity, and prolonged shutter-down strikes have triggered widespread anger against Islamabad, with locals increasingly boycotting Pakistani supplies and openly comparing their hardship to the relative stability and development in Indian-administered Jammu & Kashmir.

This growing resentment, channelled through recurring protests led by groups such as the Awami Action Committee, has alarmed Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, who faces the twin threat of an unmanageable civil uprising in PoK and rising international scrutiny over governance and human rights. Against this backdrop, PM Modi’s December 25, 2025, speech in Lucknow—delivered during the inauguration of the Rashtra Prerna Sthal—was widely read as a calibrated message to both Islamabad and the global community, as he referenced the manufacturing of BrahMos missiles in the city, reiterated India’s readiness to respond decisively to any future provocation following Operation Sindoor, and stressed that “terror and talks cannot go together.”

By linking military preparedness with economic and strategic pressure—most notably India’s decision to keep the Indus Waters Treaty in abeyance under the doctrine that “blood and water cannot flow together”—the Lucknow address reinforced New Delhi’s position that PoK remains an unresolved issue rooted in historical mistakes, while simultaneously amplifying Islamabad’s anxieties over eroding deterrence, economic collapse, and the possibility of losing control in a region increasingly restless and defiant.