Post Eid: Work and routine life resumes

GILGIT: The usual hustle and bustle returned to Gilgit, the capital of Gilgit-Baltistan (G-B), on Monday as people came back from their Eid holidays. With markets and offices reopening after the weekend, Mujahid Ali, a resident of Gilgit, said, “It’s good to see life slowly coming back to routine.” A large number of people from Punjab and the rest of the country also work in Gilgit and its adjoining valleys including Hunza, Ghizer and Skardu.” We are back to our business,” said Bilal, a trader hailing from Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, who has been running a shop in the Gahkuch valley of Ghizer for many years. According to local traders in G-B, more than 80 per cent of the share in trading activities with China is controlled by Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa traders, “The investors are mostly Pakhtuns, however local traders are involved in transportation of goods from China to Gilgit,” said Mohammad Sadiq, a resident of Gilgit. He said that the items being imported from China include crockery, decoration, clothes, shoes, toys, computer parts, and auto spare parts.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 6^th, 2011.