Two G-B Scouts martyred, one injured in Chilas attack

Two personnel of the Gilgit-Baltistan (G-B) Scouts were martyred and another injured on Friday when unidentified gunmen opened fire on a joint check post in Chilas’ Hudur area.

According to Diamer Deputy Commissioner Atta-ur-Rehman Kakar, the martyred scouts were identified as Naib Subedar Khushdad, a resident of Nagar, and Havaldar Ashraf, from Shigar.

The injured, Lance Naik Sajid whose condition is now stable, was shifted to the Regional Headquarter Hospital Chilas.

Following the attack, an emergency was declared at the hospital while security forces cordoned off the area and launched a search operation to trace the assailants.

G-B government spokesperson Faizullah Faraq, while condemning the incident, called it “a cowardly and unforgivable act of terrorism.”

He added that G-B Chief Minister Haji Gulbar Khan had taken strict notice and ordered immediate action against the perpetrators.

“We will ensure these handful of miscreants have nowhere to hide,” he added.

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G-B Interior Minister Shamsul Haq Lone also vowed that those behind the attack would be brought to justice, stressing that the pursuit of terrorists was already underway.

Who are G-B Scouts?

The Gilgit-Baltistan Scouts are a federal civil armed force responsible for maintaining security in the Gilgit-Baltistan region. The force, as it exists today, was formally renamed on January 17, 2011, following the Empowerment and Self Governance Order 2009, which gave the region its present name.

Prior to this, they were known as the Northern Areas Scouts, raised on October 31, 2003 as Pakistan’s fifth civil armed force to address the longstanding demand for such a force in the region.

The G-B Scouts trace their lineage to the Gilgit Scouts, raised in 1889, who played a decisive role in the 1947–48 war of liberation against Dogra and Indian forces, securing independence for the people of what is now Gilgit-Baltistan.

Over time, the Gilgit Scouts were reinforced with the raising of the Northern Scouts and the Karakorum Scouts. These three corps were merged in 1974 to form the Northern Light Infantry (NLI). After the Kargil conflict in 1999, the NLI was absorbed into the Pakistan Army as a regular infantry regiment.