New Delhi: There is a burning smell in the air as the Imran Khan government backed by the Pakistani Army is holding elections to annex Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) region located in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (POK), as a fifth province of Pakistan.
The reasons advanced are that people here have been left behind in the enjoyment of their rights and in the progress made in various disciplines of life in Pakistan. The argument that the people of GB are left behind and the process would lift them has no merit.
Pakistan occupied our land in 1947 and since then no development has been done here. These elections are a farce… everyone knows Imran Khan’s party has the backing of the army. He will win, says Nawaz Khan Naji, founder of the Balwaristan National Front, a small Gilgit-Baltistan-based party that advocates independence for the region.
For the last few months, locals and activists in GB have continued to express resentment against the arbitrary decision to alter its legal status and against holding elections in violation of UN resolutions.
These activists, like many others who had challenged the writ of the Pakistani state in GB earlier, have been charged under draconian anti-terror laws. Activism against the state’s heavy-handedness peaked in October when the residents of Hunza blocked the stretch of the Karakoram Highway between Gilgit and the Khunjerab Pass border crossing with China to demand the release of activist Baba Jan and 13 other activists, sentenced to life imprisonment after violent clashes in 2011 between police and protesters, who were merely seeking compensation for the loss of lives and property caused by a massive landslide.
Reiterating that GB will always be part of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K), local activists say that making the region a so-called province of Pakistan will not bring development to GB.
The region will never become a part of Pakistan. The people of GB have witnessed that Balochistan did not see any development despite it becoming a part of Pakistan, said Senge Sering, President of Institute for Gilgit-Baltistan Studies. Sering added that the people of Gilgit-Baltistan on the Indian side are enjoying freedom and equality under the Constitution of India unlike those living on the Pakistan side.
One of the most mountainous regions in the world that is rich with mines of gold, emerald and important minerals, GB is known for its extraordinary scenic beauty, diversity, ancient communities and languages. However, Gilgit-Baltistan is largely an underdeveloped region.
It’s home to K-2, the second tallest mountain in the world. Tourism remains restricted by many factors, including military hostility, though the region has ancient Buddhist sculptures and rock edicts. It is also home to an old Shia community, which often finds itself subjected to persecution in Pakistan. At present, a Governor and an elected Chief Minister rule the region, which is divided into Gilgit, Skardu, Diamer, Astore, Ghanche, Ghizer and Hunza-Nagar.
Following Pakistan’s announcement of holding the legislative election in GB, India has been reiterating that the Union Territories of J&K and Ladakh, including the area of so-called ‘Gilgit-Baltistan’, are an integral part of India by virtue of the legal, complete and irrevocable accession of Jammu and Kashmir to the Union of India in 1947, stating that the Pakistani move to change the status of the region will have no legal basis whatsoever.