Whose land is it anyway?
Unlike what is popularly believed, territorial disputes don’t just occur between nation states.
Unlike what is popularly believed, territorial disputes don’t just occur between nation states. Gilgit-Baltistan (G-B) and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) are seen to be at odds over a strip of land near the area demarcated for the Diamer-Bhasha dam.
This long-simmering row between G-B’s Thor area and K-P’s Harban area has further deepened following a clash between the two tribes last month. At least seven people were killed and a dozen others injured in the exchange of heavy fire. Though a ceasefire has been brokered between the tribes, it will last for a mere 40 days. The government has been asked to resolve the issue or else people will defend their land on their own. The enmity is feared to be more vociferous and violent if the issue remains unsettled during the period of ceasefire.
While the bloodshed garnered sympathies across G-B, its legislative assembly adopted a resolution to condemn K-P for the ‘encroachment on G-B land’. Besides asking the federal government to form a boundary commission to settle the issue, the lawmakers also chastised the federal government for acting as a ‘silent spectator’ while things aggravated.
The conflict, as of now, is over a strip of land stretching nearly eight kilometres on both sides of the Basri checkpost, which separates Kohistan from Gilgit-Baltistan. The disputed land is demarcated for acquisition as part of the Diamer-Bhasha project and is just one of the seemingly innumerable, unresolved disputes that rage around this vital project. The compensation of land has been one of the issues creating unrest among the people.
Claiming that the land belongs to it, the G-B administration had set up a check post in 2006 on the Karakoram Highway near Basri. Legislators from Diamer Valley claim that the land, now disputed, had been part of G-B historically as records prove it. It was of little importance for the Kohistanis and K-P till early 2005. But things turned around after the dam was announced in early 2006, leading to increased prices of the otherwise barren land and prospects of future monetary benefits.
If an acceptable settlement isn’t reached immediately through boundary commission as demanded by G-B assembly, it is bound to lead to more bloodshed. Territorial disputes, large and small, are endemic to G-B and parts of K-P, where ancient inter-valley feuds and rivalries are being played out in the modern era, much to the detriment of development across the region.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 24th, 2014.
This long-simmering row between G-B’s Thor area and K-P’s Harban area has further deepened following a clash between the two tribes last month. At least seven people were killed and a dozen others injured in the exchange of heavy fire. Though a ceasefire has been brokered between the tribes, it will last for a mere 40 days. The government has been asked to resolve the issue or else people will defend their land on their own. The enmity is feared to be more vociferous and violent if the issue remains unsettled during the period of ceasefire.
While the bloodshed garnered sympathies across G-B, its legislative assembly adopted a resolution to condemn K-P for the ‘encroachment on G-B land’. Besides asking the federal government to form a boundary commission to settle the issue, the lawmakers also chastised the federal government for acting as a ‘silent spectator’ while things aggravated.
The conflict, as of now, is over a strip of land stretching nearly eight kilometres on both sides of the Basri checkpost, which separates Kohistan from Gilgit-Baltistan. The disputed land is demarcated for acquisition as part of the Diamer-Bhasha project and is just one of the seemingly innumerable, unresolved disputes that rage around this vital project. The compensation of land has been one of the issues creating unrest among the people.
Claiming that the land belongs to it, the G-B administration had set up a check post in 2006 on the Karakoram Highway near Basri. Legislators from Diamer Valley claim that the land, now disputed, had been part of G-B historically as records prove it. It was of little importance for the Kohistanis and K-P till early 2005. But things turned around after the dam was announced in early 2006, leading to increased prices of the otherwise barren land and prospects of future monetary benefits.
If an acceptable settlement isn’t reached immediately through boundary commission as demanded by G-B assembly, it is bound to lead to more bloodshed. Territorial disputes, large and small, are endemic to G-B and parts of K-P, where ancient inter-valley feuds and rivalries are being played out in the modern era, much to the detriment of development across the region.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 24th, 2014.