A view of Gilgit town
By VOX POPULI
The wave of
democracy, freedom and open societies sweeping the world today seems to
be escaping the hilly terrains of Gilgit-Baltistan, situated to the
north of Pakistan. It is ruled by Pakistan but does not belong to it. It
is theoretically independent but practically under the jackboots of
Pakistan. The principles of self-determination, freedom and popular will
that are being forged by Pakistan to its rumour mills against India,
day in and day out, are denied to the people of the so called Northern
Areas, a geographical connotation invented deliberately to ignore the
people and their history in this region, shut out from the rest of the
world by the icy peaks of the Karakoram range.
The
people of the region have been victims of history in many ways. They
were under the nominal suzerainty of the King of Kashmir during the
colonial period. After partition and the first Kashmir war between India
and Pakistan, the area should have formed part of Pakistan held Kashmir
which was called Azad Jammu and Kashmir. However, Pakistan quietly
divided this part of Jammu and Kashmir State, under its control, into
two parts, i.e., Azad Jammu and Kashmir and Northern Areas.
The
people of Gilgit and Baltistan fed with the dream of an Islamic dawn
could hardly celebrate their freedom from the yoke of the Hindu King of
Kashmir, after they arrested the King’s governor in November 1947.
Exactly sixteen days after the local council of Gilgit under Shah Rais
Khan declared accession with Pakistan, Sardar Alam Khan, earlier an
Assistant Magistrate, was sent in as the political agent with enormous
powers to eclipse the authority of the local council. Since then, the
central bureaucracy of Pakistan has spread its tentacles all around like
an Octopus and held the region hostage to the whims and caprices of the
leaders of Pakistan.
Through
the rough and tumble of Pakistani politics in the 1950 and 1960s,
Pakistan almost forgot that the Gilgit-Baltistan agency was part of the
erstwhile kingdom of Jammu and Kashmir. In 1963, when Pakistani
authorities under Ayub’s leadership bartered away nearly 5180 sq kms of
territory the people of the region could hardly utter a word. This
region provided Pakistan with the much needed surface communication
corridor with China, the only so called ‘all-weather friend’ of China.
These
areas were for all practical purposes, annexed to Pakistan. In 1970, the
agency was renamed Northern Areas and ruled directly by the Federal
government through political agents. In 1974, two more states, Hunza and
Nagar along with the valleys of Darel and Tangir were added to the NA.
Areas traditionally considered part of Gilgit-Baltistan, like Shinaki
Kohistan and Chitral were amalgamated into NWFP. There is a popular
demand gaining momentum in Gilgit-Baltistan that these areas should be
given back to Gilgit-Baltistan.
Of Pakistan but not in it
Neither
the agency of Gilgit-Baltistan, nor its successor, Northern Areas, has
found any place in the Pakistani constitutions drafted in 1956, 1962 and
even in 1973. It is virtually a forgotten place for the government of
Pakistan. They only find scant mention in the Federal rules of Business
where a special Ministry in the central government, Ministry of Kashmir
Affairs and Northern Areas (KANA) was given the responsibility to look
after the administration of the area. Although Gilgit-Baltistan did not
have representation in the national assembly and Senate, that did not
stop the government of Pakistan from collecting direct and indirect
taxes from its people, without taking enough care to plough these
resources back for development of the region.
The Façade of Democracy
Pakistan
has sought to hoodwink the people and the world by maintaining a facade
of democratic rule since 1994. An impotent representative body called
Northern Areas Legislative Council (NALC) was introduced as per the
Legal Framework Order of 1994 which had an elected head as the Deputy
Chief Executive, whereas the Minister for KANA was the Chief Executive
of the NALC.
In
October 2007, after lot of internal and internal pressures on Musharraf,
towards the close of his military rule, some rudimentary and cosmetic
changes were introduced through a Presidential directive. NALC was
renamed as NA Legislative Assembly with 36 members (24 elected and 12
reserved) and given some nominal powers to legislate over some
additional areas. This has been a joke because NALA will never be given
the autonomy that it deserves. Even now, the Minister KANA will preside
over the affairs of the state as Chairman, if not Chief Executive.
Eye on its Resources
Main street in Gilgit. Expensive vehicles are a common sight. These are smuggled from Afghanistan. Police rarely check registration of vehicles
Surprisingly, an area as large as 73,000
square kilometres and now having about 1.5 million population hardly
attracted any attention in Pakistan or in the region until its
hydropower capability drew the attention of the Pakistani government.
With water resources of Pakistan depleting fast and resistance from
Sindh and NWFP rising against the proposed Kalabagh dam, the Pakistani
government eyed for the resources of northern areas.
It has
since started the construction of the Bhasha-Diamer dam without
ensuring that the royalty from the dam would accrue to the people of NA.
In fact, the reservoir spread over an area of 7.3 million acre feet in
Diamer in Northern Areas and it would inundate about 32 villages.
However, the power house is situated some kilometres away in NWFP and it
is supposed to generate 4,500 megawatts of electricity. Given
Pakistan’s step-motherly treatment towards the people of NA, it will not
be surprising if the royalty from the dam would accrue to NWFP and not
NA because the power generating unit is situated in Bhasha in NWFP. The
people of Northern Areas are now quite sensitive about the issue and
would go to any extent to fight for their rights.
Unleash Sunni Sectarian Forces
Anybody
acquainted with the Sunni-Islamic bias of the Pakistani state will
understand why the people of Northern Areas have been overlooked by the
central administration. It is because majority of the people in the
region are Shia (39 per cent is Shia, 27 per cent Sunni, 18 per cent
Ismaili and 16 per cent Nurbakhshi.) The Pakistani state authorities
have systematically transplanted Sunni Muslims from other parts of
Pakistan in this area and brought about a demographic change in an area
predominantly inhabited by Shia people. In the headquarters of Northern
Areas administration, i.e., Gilgit, for example, Sunnis are in a
majority now.
The
Sunni assertion in 1980s enjoyed state patronage during and after
Zia-ul-Haq’s rule. The Sunni militants buoyed up by their victory
against the Soviet forces in Afghanistan spread out into these areas and
launched systematic and planned attacks on the Shias in Northern Areas.
This has been well documented by various human rights organisations.
The world talks about the atrocities of the Indian state in Jammu and
Kashmir thanks to efficient propaganda by the Pakistani state. However,
that will pale into insignificance if one were to remember the hordes of
Sunni militants descending upon the area, backed by forces close to the
Bin Ladens and Mullah Omars and the security machinery of the Pakistani
state in the late 1980s.
This
has gradually united the Shias in the area. They are now much more
assertive than they were in the 1980s. In the days to come the sectarian
situation is likely to worsen if their genuine demands for protection
of their cultural and spiritual heritage are not fulfilled.
Demand for autonomy and secession
- A narrow suspension bridge across the river Gilgit. It goes into a tunnel thatopens into Karkorum hills
Indeed, this has happened and several political movements have come up in the recent years in the region. Chief among them have been ‘Gilgit Baltistan Democratic Alliance’ (GBDA), Gilgit Baltistan United Movement (GBUM) and Balwaristan National Front (BNF). The first two are demanding more autonomy within Pakistani state, while the latter (BNF) has demanded independence and secession.
Strangely quite, the leaders of the so called Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) have hardly raised their voice in support of the people of Northern Areas. Most of them have colluded with the Pakistani state and looked the other way when the Pakistani state has extended its unjust rule over the terrain. The untold miseries and sufferings of its people accentuated by non-representative rule by Islamabad have hardly attracted their attention. Only in recent months have they shed some cursory light on the plight of the people of Gilgit and Baltistan and declared this area ‘disputed’ and hence demanded autonomy for them. However, largely they have been silent partners in Islamabad’s misrule and endorsed the status quo allowing the area to come up as a ‘fossil of conspiracies’, as the much discredited Kashmiri leader Amanullah Khan would put it.
The Way Ahead
The
people of the region are grossly poor, illiterate and vulnerable to
pressure by the state. The rise of Sunni militancy, the step-motherly
treatment meted out to them by the state and their miserable
socio-economic condition has led them to reflect upon their condition
seriously and a new generation of youth is coming up to take on the
leadership of this unfortunate people labouring under the unjust
policies of the Pakistani state forgotten by the world. Whether they
will succeed or not will depend on their leadership and the support they
receive from the world outside.
The
present democratic government had raised high hopes among the people of
the region. However, one year down the line, the people have realised
that the army is still in charge and its quintessential aversion to
democratic rule will come in the way of any proposal for genuine
representative rule and devolution of power to these areas.
The
wider international community needs to take note of the miseries of the
people of this region and put pressure on the Pakistani state not to
plunder their resources, stop tampering with their cultural ethos and
allow self-governance to the people. Self-rule is their birthright as
human beings growing up in a world of democracies. They deserve it. If
the world turns a blind eye then for sure, one will witness the movement
assuming violent shape in near future and this will disturb the peace
of the region.
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