GILGIT-BALTISTAN DISPUTE

During the first Indo-Pak war of October 1947, Pakistan occupied 78,114 sq km of the land of Jammu and Kashmir, including the ‘Northern Areas’. The Northern Areas is the other name of Gilgit-Baltistan that Pakistan has used for administrative reasons because it was a disputed territory.

Gilgit -Baltistan will become the fifth State of Pakistan after Sindh, Punjab, Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Gilgit -Baltistan was separated from Pakistan Occupied Kashmir on April 28, 1949. It became centrally administered region.

On March 2, 1963, Pakistan gave away 5,180 sq km of the region to China, despite local protests Under the premiership of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, the region renamed as , the Federally Administered Northern Areas (FANA).

Pakistan passed the Gilgit-Baltistan Empowerment and Self Governance Order in 2009, granting “self-rule” to the ‘Northern Areas’. People protested for the demand of an executive form of government based on international resolutions.

The local discontentment altered considerably with Pakistan signing an agreement with China for mega infrastructure and hydel power projects in September 2009.

On January 17, 2019, a seven-judge bench of the Supreme Court of Pakistan, took up the constitutional status of Gilgit-Baltistan , to validate the political rights of local people . The Supreme Court allowed Islamabad to amend a 2018 administrative order to hold general elections in the region.

The Gilgit-Baltistan Order of 2018 provided for administrative changes, including empowering the Prime Minister of Pakistan to legislate on an array of subjects. The sense of alienation among local people had shades of anti-imperialism towards the Dogra rulers of Srinagar during 1947 Gilgit-Baltistan is largely an underdeveloped region.

It is highly mineral rich with mines of gold and emerald. The tradition of building dams and bunds dates back to the reign of Balti King Ali Sher Khan Anchan of 1580-1624, who built the famous bund at Satpara Lake.

The biggest hydroelectricity project is the Diamer-Bhasha dam, which was launched in July 2020. India reacted with its territorial claim to the Pakistan’s announcement of holding the legislative election in Gilgit-Baltistan.

India opposed the Diamer-Bhasha dam project as the priceless Buddhist heritage will be lost once the dam is built.India has objected to the use of Gilgit-Baltistan to build and operate the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).

The local protest against Pakistan were fuelled by loss of land and livelihood of the locals due to mega projects funded by China. The widespread sentiment that China is forcing Pakistan to fist its clinch on Gilgit-Baltistan, also creating conditions for the declaration of the Line of Control (LoC) in Kashmir as the International Border.

The August 5, 2019 decision by India to withdraw the special status of Jammu and Kashmir, Indian political will of territorial claim over Pakistan Occupied Kashmir became strong.

India launched a new political map last November, which showed the Gilgit-Baltistan region as part of the new Union Territory of Ladakh. In response, Pakistan laid claim to Ladakh and the whole of Jammu and Kashmir in its map.

The full statehood for Gilgit-Baltistan was like a blow to India’s future claim over the region . Gilgit-Baltistan is important for Pakistan as it is the gateway for the CPEC. But for India, it represents the continuity with the past of Jammu and Kashmir.

The ongoing stand-off with China at the Line of Actual Control in Eastern Ladakh has a Gilgit-Baltistan connection as the Darbuk-Shyok-DBO road of India is viewed as a tactical roadway to access the Karakoram Pass, which provides China crucial access to Gilgit-Baltistan and Pakistan.

Full statehood for the region may give Pakistan a political and legal upper hand and strengthen China’s position in the region.

Islamabad hesitated to declare Gilgit-Baltistan a province of Pakistan because of its claim that J&K is disputed territory and its demand for plebiscite. The change of status of Gilgit-Baltistan is considered as response to the removal of special status of Kashmir by GOI The Shia and ethnically distinct population of the region has very little in common with PoK.

Kashmir is inhabited by Sunni Muslims. Pakistan may agree to a Chinese military presence in Gilgit-Baltistan because Islamabad would like to see India embroiled simultaneously in a two-front war, in Ladakh and Gilgit , with China.Delinking the region from the Kashmir dispute would make it easier for the international community to accept Chinese presence in Gilgit-Baltistan.

Making Gilgit-Baltistan its fifth province would violate the Karachi Agreement , perhaps the only instrument that provides doubtful legal authority to Pakistan’s administration of the region.

Any such move would also be violative of the 1963 Pak-China Boundary Agreement that calls for the sovereign authority to reopen negotiations with China “after the settlement of the Kashmir dispute between Pakistan and India” and of the 1972 Simla Agreement that mentions that “neither side shall unilaterally alter the situation”.

Some of the questions

1. What is the GILGIT-BALTISTAN dispute?

2. Why is Gilgit not part of Pakistan?