Under Pak rule, Gilgit-Baltistan most neglected, backward area in South Asia: Book

With 32 snow-clad mountain peaks, mighty glaciers, lush green valleys and freshwater lakes, Gilgit-Baltistan is one of the most beautiful places in the world. Not to mention the abundant reserves of precious deposits like gold, silver and uranium.

However, nearly seven decades of Pakistan's illegal occupation has pushed Gilgit-Baltistan -- once an economically thriving region -- into the most neglected, backward and poorest area in entire South Asia, says a new book titled 'Pakistan Occupied Kashmir -- Politics, Parties and Personalities' by three Pakistan experts.

Other experts not connected to the book say Islamabad has also been systematically suppressing the people of the region who are mostly Shias and are facing an influx of Sunni population from other parts of Pakistan.

Tilak Devasher, a strategic affairs expert, says while Pakistan has projected itself as the champion of self-determination' and democratic rights in J and K, the reality is that in Gilgit-Baltistan, it has indulged in "systematic suppression of the people".

"It has denied them even basic constitutional and legal rights but hypocritically speaks of the right of self-determination in J and K," he told PTI.

The region, which was part of erstwhile Jammu and Kashmir before being occupied by Pakistan in 1947, is now synonymous with increasing suicides, sectarian violence, violation of human rights and militancy. Awfully, 85 per cent of the people make their living on subsistence farming, says the book published by premier think-tank Institute of Defence Studies and Analysis.

According to a report by the Islamabad-based Pakistan Institute for Peace Studies, the region has a literacy rate of mere 14 per cent for men and 3.5 per cent for women. However, the book says, data prepared by the government of Gilgit-Baltistan in 2013 claimed that the literacy rate was 37.85 per cent in 1998 and it went up to 60 per cent in 2013.

Authored by Surinder Kumar Sharma, Yaqoob ul Hassan and Ashok Behuria, the book chronicles socio-political developments, strategic dimensions including China's growing presence and unfolding demographic changes in the mountainous region.

"The Pakistan Government has not done much to improve the economic condition of the people of Gilgit-Baltistan which is considered as the most backward in South Asia," says the book.

It says there has been increasing frequency of suicides in the region, adding that over 300 youths, both boys and girls, committed suicides in Ghizer district alone since 2000. "One major reason for committing suicide is unemployment," it says.

In a reflection of the situation there, Abdul Hamid Khan, leader of Balawaristan National Front (BNF), a prominent political party of the region, in a letter to then UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon on March 14, 2016, said: "There is no legal, constitutional, judicial mechanism in place in Pakistan occupied Gilgit-Baltistan to protect people from human rights violations."