For Gilgit-Baltistan, November Marks Yet Another Year of Occupation

Pakistan even awarded vast tracks of land belonging to Hunza and Shigar to China to gain political favors, despite the fact that she lacks sovereignty over Gilgit-Baltistan to undertake such decisions. As the UN authorities have failed to persuade Pakistan to withdraw from Gilgit-Baltistan; the resultant impasse obstructs an early and just solution viz. a viz. the long standing issue of Kashmir.

 

Since then, Pakistan’s expansionist agenda has come in the way of locals gaining political and judicial autonomy, which directly impacts their interests and wellbeing. They are also denied autonomous financial and economic institutions which could help rescue the natives from abject poverty. Till date, more than half of region’s population lives below the poverty line. In short, the rule of kleptocracy has given the occupiers the arbitrary powers to benefit from the geo-strategic location and natural resources of the region, however, without sharing due benefits with its real owners.

 

The ongoing bus service diplomacy between Srinagar and Muzaffarabad has failed to persuade Pakistan to revive cross-Line-of-Control transit and trade between Gilgit-Baltistan and Ladakh, which obstructs thousands of divided family members from seeing each other. It has also led to the downfall of local culture and languages and hinders trade over the historical routes. In essence, Pakistan has failed to demonstrate the moral courage to withdraw from Gilgit-Baltistan and also lacks the will and the capacity to grant socio-economic rights to the people.

 

While maintaining a conflicting stance on Gilgit-Baltistan; Pakistani rulers waver between calling it a part of the country to declaring it a disputed territory. As the constitutional limbo persists; the rulers remain complacent in benefiting from the geo-strategic location and natural resources of Gilgit-Baltistan. On the other hand, India, which claims Gilgit-Baltistan as a constitutional part of the country by virtue of accession, has expressed her willingness to grant political and judicial rights to the inhabitants if given a chance. The socio-political rights which the people of Ladakh enjoy today speak for India’s intentions.

 

It is no secret that the natives of Ladakh including the Shias, Ismailis and Nurbaxshis enjoy desirable form of religious freedom. On the other hand, the people of Gilgit-Baltistan live under fear and subjugation and face forced conversion and slaughter owing to their belief system. Even today, they are denied the fundamental human right to learn about their religion in the state-run educational institutions. Further, authorities have yet to bring the military personnel to justice who shot and killed dozens including many school children in 2004 and 2005 for asking for religious rights. It was during the same time, when the Jutial high school was declared a sub-jail and dozens of students were detained and tortured in that building.

 

Similarly, while the language and script of Ladakh has received recognition at the state level in India, Pakistan continues a ban on the indigenous languages and scripts of Gilgit-Baltistan in the educational institutions and calls them profane and inconsistent with the concept of Pakistani nationalism. Pakistan’s hegemonic policy has brought the native cultures and languages on the verge of extinction.

 

While the natives of Ladakh enjoy freedom of speech and political activity in India; hundreds of political activists of Gilgit-Baltistan including Babajan Hunzai, Engineer Amanullah and Manzoor Parwana languish in Pakistani jails and face sedition charges for demanding political rights.

 

The people of Ladakh call the Indian military their protector and helper. On the other hand, the natives of Gilgit-Baltistan see Pakistani law enforcers as oppressors. One will often find Pakistani police and para-military forces barging into the houses, as demonstrated recently during midnight search operations in Hunza and Gilgit, and torturing and abducting innocent civilians, especially the flood victims, whose only crime is to demand food, shelter, medicine and financial compensation.

 

While India has succeeded in protecting Ladakh from the wrath of terrorism, Pakistan on the other hand has converted Gilgit-Baltistan into a hotbed of militancy. For decades, terrorists used the region as a hideout and training camp to wage war on Afghanistan and India and slaughter those among the natives who refused to support their activities. It is said that more than seventy thousand tourists visit Ladakh every year and the credit goes to the Indian policy makers for preserving and developing the ancient civilization of the region. On the other hand, the few tourists who arrive in Gilgit-Baltistan remain fearful of the terrorists, who reside in the region under the protection of Pakistani secret service agents.

 

One must also appreciate that India honors State Subject Rule in Ladakh, which protects ethnic and religious composition of the region. Pakistan, on the other hand abrogated same law in Gilgit-Baltistan in the early seventies; adding to yet another violation of the United Nations resolutions. The situation has since then enabled illegal settlement of hundreds of thousands of Pakistani citizens, and threatens the natives becoming minority in their own homeland.

 

Pakistan’s oppression in Gilgit-Baltistan has continued partly due to the fact that international community failed to pay attention to the alarming situation. The international community is therefore requested to help end the era of regency in Gilgit-Baltistan so the natives could regain control over their land and resources and establish autonomous political, judicial and economic institutions. International community must pressure Pakistan to release right defenders from jails; and resume cross-LOC trade and travel; and reinstate State Subject Rule; and end opposition to the right of self-determination for Gilgit-Baltistan; and withdraw her troops and citizens from Gilgit-Baltistan so the natives would not have to face another month of November with their homeland in a constitutional limbo and occupation.

 

 

Views expressed are personal