Muzaffarabad, Feb. 3 -- Every year on February 5, Pakistan observes "Kashmir Solidarity Day" through choreographed rallies, official speeches, and state-funded events designed to project unity with Jammu and Kashmir.

Government offices shut, slogans echo, and a carefully scripted narrative is pushed at home and abroad.

But behind the spectacle lies a widening gap between rhetoric and reality, one that residents of Pakistan-occupied Jammu Kashmir (PoJK) and Pakistan-occupied Gilgit-Baltistan (PoGB) increasingly reject.

For many living under Pakistan's control, February 5 no longer represents solidarity but state-sponsored hypocrisy.

Critics in PoJK and PoGB argue that February 5 has evolved into a political performance designed to misl...