For peace in Gilgit-Baltistan
Gilgit-Baltistan is another ‘far-flung’ but strategically important region, where the writ of the state has been leeched away since the Afghan war against the Soviet occupation started under the tutelage of General Ziaul Haq. The KKH had been built by the Zulfikar Ali Bhutto government, which India saw as a chessboard move challenging its presence in Kashmir. General Zia, however, soon discovered that the real threat was not from India, but from his new policy of using proxies against the Soviets in Afghanistan. Two developments took place that had enduring effects for the coming decades. The jihad was dominated by the mujahideen funded by America and Saudi Arabia, which meant that General Zia had a stormy relationship with Iran. Shias were targeted by mujahideen “because they were reluctant to help in fighting the jihad against the Soviet occupation”. Shias of Kurram Agency were attacked by mujahideen, followed by the incursion of a Sunni Lashkar into the region in 1988, in order to sort out the majority Shia-Ismaili population of the region. Decades later, the punishment meted out to Shias has reached new depths. This time, it is happening in the shape of the death of the writ of the state in areas such as Kurram Agency, Gilgit-Baltistan and Quetta, where Hazara Shias are being systematically exterminated.
The then-commissioner of Gilgit has been immortalised in history for writing what really happened in 1988. He stated: “It was clear to the Gilgit civil administration that the raiders, who were tribals and mujahideen elements, could not have reached this remote place from Peshawar without someone’s blessing. The FC, whose check posts dot the Swat-Besham road and the Besham-Gilgit highway, did not act to intercept the raiders. The true significance of the Gilgit riot has never been highlighted by our media.” In 2012, the Taliban, fighting another war in Afghanistan under the tutelage of al Qaeda, are using Gilgit-Baltistan as their hinterland, which has to be religiously cleansed.
A professor travelling in the ill-fated bus on August 16 that was gunned down, stated that in the Babusar bus carnage, four Sunnis were killed by terrorists as they came forward to save their Shia brethren. As another proof that the region was never divided along sectarian lines, he added that “terrorists beat up the Sunni passengers for not being supportive in identifying the Shia passengers”.
Gilgit-Baltistan was roughed up again during the Kargil operation when external non-state actors were allowed to penetrate the region — all of them either Deobandi or Ahle Hadith, poisoned against the Shia majority of the region and supported by the military commander there, who was conducting the infiltration into the high mountains against the Indian presence.
No one cared that the region was more important for the national economy than for military strategy against India: the Bhasha Dam, which was to be an alternative to the Kalabagh Dam; and the gas pipeline coming from Iran was also planned for passage to China through the region. Pakistan was defeated in the Kargil operation and the economic transformation projected through the construction of the Bhasha Dam and the gas pipeline are now in abeyance till the Taliban are finally defeated by the army. The Rs2 billion package offered by the PM is welcome, but the larger picture in Gilgit-Baltistan is gloomy because of Pakistan’s isolationist foreign policy that some would say tends to favour the Taliban-al Qaeda combine.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 30th, 2012.
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We do not need money, we want only our legal and constituitional rights. we want to know are we a pakistan Chine or indian citizens???
@gp65: " ... Even Musharraf now owns up that it was Pak army. This lie is past the sell-by date. ... "
And Pakistani diplomats ACCUSE India of having a trust deficit.
"Gilgit-Baltistan was roughed up again during the Kargil operation when external non-state actors were allowed to penetrate the region — all of them either Deobandi or Ahle Hadith, poisoned against the Shia majority of the region and supported by the military commander there, who was conducting the infiltration into the high mountains against the Indian presence."
Still pretending that Kargil operation was conducting by Mujahidin and not Pakistani army regulars - eh? Even Musharraf now owns up that it was Pak army. This lie is past the sell-by date.
The authors approach is rational and analytical in observing the historic data which is typically how rest of the world views and interprets Pakistan.
But after reading several comments on ET forum and seeing talk shows of Pakistani media on YouTube, I think that most Pakistani tend to be more emotional and resorts to rhetoric than logic. Few examples are glorified past, the great vision of Ummah that never existed, ready acceptance of rest of the world out to get them and so on......
It appalls rest of the world that Pakistani Muslims tends to get hurt faster than rest of the Muslims in the world on any discourse involving religion. Pakistanis want blasphemy banned under UN but continue to attend rallies in every city where hateful content is spewed against other segments such as Ahmedi. Hindus, Christians etc.