South Asia
Gilgit-Baltistan Pakistan on the way to change the state design of Gilgit-Baltistan
Islamabad, January 28: Pakistan's Prime Minister Imran Khan continues to follow Chinese President Xi Jinping's expansionist policies in the Gilgit-Baltistan region, depriving people of their civil rights in 2021. He is militarizing the region through the back door by practically cheating with the people. As a result, Chinese influence is growing rapidly throughout Pakistan.
However, people have started catching the harmful intentions of these two. The people of Gilgit-Baltistan have strongly protested the decision of the Pakistan government to extend the deployment of Frontier Corps (FC) for another three years. They were already hostile to the Imran Khan government after they deprived the locals of employment opportunities.
Earlier, on December 3, 2020, Imran Khan came to Gilgit-Baltistan and falsely promised to create two international parks.
Imran said it would create 5,000 new jobs for locals. In fact, he wanted to take away 3,600 square kilometers of land from Gilgit-Baltistan.
The recent merger of the 2,400-member Frontier Corps with the Gilgit-Baltistan Department of Forest and Wildlife has revealed the Prime Minister's intentions to the local people.
This Frontier Corps has already shown its loyalty to the government by suppressing and killing Baloch activists. The atrocities they have perpetrated in Balochistan have shown the world how a state seeks to suppress their just demands by declaring war on its 'own' people.
This is another excellent example of the tyranny of the Pakistani government. Pakistan's paramilitary forces will be stationed in occupied Gilgit-Baltistan for the next three years. All these paramilitary forces will be deployed in parks, roads and various roads in Gilgit-Baltistan. And through this the government of Pakistan is deepening the colonial oppression.
Frustration and anger are accumulating among the people against Islamabad's control over Gilgit-Baltistan. As a result, in the wake of recent events, the Awami Action Committee (AAC)-GB has launched a massive protest movement against the government.
The AAC has spoken out against destroying Gilgit-Baltistan unity and crushing it. The dubious manner in which Gilgit-Baltistan was illegally accorded the status of the fifth province of Pakistan naturally created an atmosphere of suspicion in the minds of the people. Then again, as a result of massive electoral fraud in the region, that suspicion of Pakistan's infiltration has turned into a belief.
The violent protests that followed the rigging of the election by Pakistan's ruling PTI were an expression of local people's distrust and anger against the Pakistani government.
On the other hand, Pakistan, which has been facing the worst economic crisis in decades, is embarking on the boat of Chinese President Xi Jinping. But forget that the cost of boarding this boat may be choked in exchange for the country's sovereignty. China has already invested heavily in the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) through Gilgit-Baltistan, although it has retained the lion's share of the project.
The people of Gilgit-Baltistan have remained marginalized during all the governments of Pakistan. But this region, rich in natural resources, has always been a target of exploitation by politicians in power. The Gilgit-Baltistan region has been severely uprooted and the environment has been severely damaged by the rampant timber mafia. Legal and illegal opportunities have been provided by the authorities to carry out this violence.
Most recently, the CPEC has dealt a severe blow to the lives of the people of Gilgit-Baltistan. The project has not only created employment for the local people, but has also led to the eviction of many of them for evacuating their land to build the Karakoram Highway (KKH). The KKH is the main connecting road between China's illegally occupied Xinjiang and Pakistan's occupied Gilgit-Baltistan.
The plight of the people of Gilgit-Baltistan does not end here. Every day they are being subjected to various kinds of harassment and deprivation. The list is long, ranging from not being offered scholarships to students in the region. Gilgit-Baltistan has the largest hydroelectric benefits, but the region has very little electricity. The city of Gilgit has 18 to 21 hours of load shedding. Besides, electricity has not yet reached 1,500 houses in Astore district. The risk of population change is also strong in this region.
Hospitals in Gilgit-Baltistan also do not have enough doctors. No hospital has ventilator for corona patients. There is no doctor in Gilgit-Baltistan to operate on a small appendix.
Seeking to make Gilgit-Baltistan a province of Pakistan is contrary to the UN resolution. The UN resolution called for the withdrawal of all Pakistani troops and expatriates until a bilateral agreement was reached with India on Gilgit-Baltistan.
The biggest problem facing the people of Gilgit-Baltistan at the moment is the massive demilitarization of the region. The Pakistani government is currently reluctant to think beyond investing USD 60 billion in the region. This government is so insensitive to the local people. The situation has reached such a point that the intervention of international human rights organizations has become urgent before another genocide takes place here like in Balochistan at the hands of FC paramilitary forces.
