India’s ‘cockroach’ protest movement strikes a chord with young Pakistanis

India’s viral ‘Cockroach Janta Party’ movement is gaining attention among young people in Pakistan, where students say its grievances over education, employment and economic opportunities mirror challenges they face at home.

The Gen Z-led Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), which began as online satire before growing into a protest movement, has returned to the streets in India for more than a week. Thousands have demonstrated in New Delhi against changes to voter rolls, according to Channel News Asia.

The movement first gained prominence through protests over alleged examination irregularities and demands for education reform. The campaign led to the resignation of India’s education minister in July.

Its message has since found an audience among some young Pakistanis. Copycat social media pages have emerged, including one called the Cockroach Awami Party, which describes itself as a “rising voice against corruption and injustice”.

Among those following the Indian movement is Khushbakht Rashid, a 21-year-old law student who sees parallels between the protesters’ demands and the challenges facing students in Pakistan.

She has spent the past few months following the movement online, sharing its posts and making her own video in solidarity.

“I made some content online so that I can tell (others), as a student, what I want from this education system,” the public university student told CNA.

“We are forced to study based only on facts and expected to memorise. But why? Who is going to teach us critical thinking?”

Another student, Kainat Shabbir, said she also identified with the movement’s demands for education reform.

The 23-year-old, who had aspired to become a doctor, spent years preparing for Pakistan’s Medical and Dental College Admission Test (MDCAT), sitting the examination twice.

However, the pressure of the admission process, intense competition and restrictions on where she could apply eventually led her to reconsider her plans and switch to studying law.

“What I experienced was quite similar to what is happening in India because I myself (sat for) the MDCAT twice,” she said. “I wasn’t able to understand what I should do after taking a gap year and investing so much (time) in it.”

The competition for medical education in Pakistan is intense. In 2025, more than 140,000 students registered for the MDCAT, competing for about 22,000 places in medical and dental colleges nationwide.

Pressures beyond the classroom

The challenges facing Pakistan’s young people extend beyond education, with limited employment opportunities adding to their frustration.

Official data puts unemployment among people aged 15 to 29 at 11.8%. The country also faces the challenge of generating enough jobs for its rapidly expanding working-age population.

World Bank president Ajay Banga has said Pakistan needs to create as many as 30 million jobs over the next decade, equivalent to roughly 2.5 million to 3 million jobs a year, to accommodate the growing number of young people entering the workforce.

He has warned that Pakistan must turn its large youth population into an economic dividend or risk greater instability and outward migration.

The country’s political leadership has also acknowledged the risks associated with mounting frustration among young people.

In July, Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi warned policymakers against underestimating young Pakistanis who are dissatisfied with the existing system and frustrated by limited economic opportunities.

In an apparent reference to youth-led protests in neighbouring India, he said: “We are unable to give our youth what they want. You can call them youth or cockroaches or whatever. But if these cockroaches get together, then they can overturn everything.”

His remarks came as Pakistan continued to grapple with economic pressures, a difficult job market, political divisions and security challenges, deepening uncertainty over the future facing its younger generation.

Resonating across the border

Analysts say these shared frustrations help explain why a youth movement in India can resonate with some Pakistanis, despite decades of political hostility and strained relations between the two neighbours.

Khurram Abbas, director of the India Study Centre at the Institute of Strategic Studies Islamabad, said young Pakistanis were increasingly frustrated by the lack of opportunities.

“They need jobs, they need opportunities. The government is responsible for those opportunities to be created,” he said.

“In that capacity, there is significant resentment in the young population of Pakistan. But they are not as socially connected with each other as the Indian youth.”

For now, there is little indication that Pakistani students’ interest in the CJP will develop into organised protests on the scale seen in India.

However, the movement’s growing online following highlights how grievances over education, employment and economic prospects can resonate across one of South Asia’s most politically strained borders.