Gilgit–Baltistan covers an area of 72,971 kms (about 28,174 square miles) and is a picturesque and mountainous area. Its 1,000,000 poulation is 99.9% Muslim. The capital city if Gilgit with a population of 216,760. Gilgit–Baltistan has very few speakers of Kashmiri. Most understand and peak Urdu.
September 13, 2012 is an auspicious day for Kashmiris, Gilgits, Baltistanis, Pakistanis and Muslims the world over. It is a day which will live in glory. On this day, the GB has made a glorious demand which will be enshrined in the constitution of Pakistan. The Gilgit-Baltistan legislative assembly on September 13 2012 passed a resolution recommending that the area be made the fifth province of Pakistan. The National Assembly and the Senate of Pakistan must immediately meet to amend the constitution and grant the demand of the Gilgit-Baltistan legislative assembly for Provicial status.
Presdient Zia Ul Haq had declared that the Northern Areas were part and parcel of Pakistan and not part of any dispute. The PPP government to its credit created the GB Assembly. President Asif Ali Zardari on September 7 signed the Gilgit-Baltistan (empowerment and self governance) Order.Now that assembly is asking for provicial status. GB has an Assembly, a Senate, a Governor and a Chief Minster. It has all the trappings of a province. The incorporation of GB into Pakistan wil facilitate the liberation of Kashmir.
Map of Gilgit-Baltistan Autonomous Region of Pakistan, showing the six districts and tehsil boundaries. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
It is to be noted that GB rose in rebellion against the Dogra rule before August 14th, 1947. GB was not part of the Jammu and Kashmir but the Dogra’s had been ruling it iunder a treaty. As such the Northern Areas (now called Gilgit Baltistan) do not fall under the UN resolution of “disputed territory”. Glgit Baltistan is Pakistani territory and has nothing to do with the dipute with Bharat. Delhi has no Locus satandii on Kashmir.
Speaking on the matter Chief Minister Mehdi Shah said “there is no need to approach United Nations on the matter, as the resolution of the UN are are lifeless. It is very obvious that our ancesstors fought Dogra Raj and sought indepenence by themselves from Kashmiri Dogra Rulers and it’s a historic fact. Based on what was in history can not change the destiny of the independent Gilgit-Baltistan which as affiliated with Pakistan to be a constitutional province will not change. On the map of world there were not Bangladesh, Pakistan or India before 1947, if today Britian claim that these countries belong to them no one will accept it” Speaking on the same resoulotion speaker Wazir Baig stated that “ Constituional rights are our legitimate and basic privilages and no one can deny that so the people of Gilgit-Baltistan must be given its long due constitutional rights.”
It is not a surprise that Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is making noises about the Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) legislative assembly’s demand for provincial status. The BJP calls is “a conspiracy by Pakistan to weaken India’s legitimate claim over the region”. Bharat has no claim over GB.
English: kids of Tarashing, Astore District, Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
The Times of India reports that “BJP state unit’s chief spokesman Jitendra Singh said here that the resolution demanding provincial status for the region is a “design by Islamabad to achieve twin objectives of usurping the constitutional status of Gilgit-Baltistan and at the same time compromising India’s legitimate claim over the region”.
The TOI says that Mr. “Singh alleged that the resolution was adopted by the Gilgit assembly at the behest of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) government in Pakistan.
‘It violates all democratic and diplomatic norms and is also contrary to the spirit of Pakistan’s constitution itself, which has since accepted Gilgit-Baltistan not as a part of Pakistan but as a part of Jammu & Kashmir’ ”
Hunza Attabad Lake, Gilgit-Baltistan (Photo credit: ihunzai)
According to the TOI report “Singh alleged that the Congress-led UPA government has failed to uphold the territorial integrity of the region despite the 1994 unanimous resolution of parliament that states: ‘The state of Jammu and Kashmir has been, is and shall be an integral part of India and any attempts to separate it from the rest of the country will be resisted by all necessary means.’ He did not specify what “means” would be used for the resistance which is a fait accompli–and has been for the past six decades.
GB (Gilgit-Baltistan) is in northern areas administered by Pakistan and shares its border with Azad Kashmir, Occupied Jammu and Kashmir, Afghanistan and China.
Two years ago Selig Harrison had made the sensational claim that China wanted “unfettered access to the Gulf”, but was alarmed over China’s “grip” over Gilgit-Baltistan. Harrison had said that Pakistan was “handing over” Gilgit-Baltistan — where he had discovered “an influx” of Chinese soldiers (who were helping Pakistan during the eathquake relief efforts). The Chines were also assisting Pakistan with the Attabad Lake which was created by a gliecer blocking a stream. The current Indian army chief General Bakram Singh has verified such ‘revelations’ to be false and has reluctantly accpeted the denials by both China and Pakistan. Singh said on Wednesday, the Chinese soldiers were there to “provide protection” to railway, road and hydroelectric projects.
The Wakhan panhandle is infested with spies from all the enemies of Pakistan. It has to be sanitized. GB should border Tajikistan, but a part of Pakistan serves as a buffer between Pakistan and the land of Babar and the Mughal. The amalgamation of GB into Pakistan will help in the retrieval of the Wakhan Corridor -Pakistani territor which was illeglaly handed over by the British to a motley group of tribes incarcerated in an artifical buffer state called “Afghanistan”.
