Gilgit Baltistan: A Freedom to Lost Identity

The saga of Gilgit Baltistan is no less than a wonder, after about 109 years in the occupation of the Dogra Regime, the people of this region got freedom and ended the Dogra Raj forever and turned Gilgit Baltistan from an occupied region to a free region. It is the principle of the world that when a region or territory is conquered, a state is formed, a national government is established. After legitimize the victory over the Dogras, an autonomous and independent state Gilgit Baltistan was founded on November 1, 1947. It was the third independent state after India and Pakistan in British India. The desire of the leadership here or the conspiracy of Major Brown to annex this liberated region to join Pakistan was expressed and on 16 November 1947, the Government of Pakistan sent its representative Sardar Muhammad Alam Khan to Gilgit for taking over the control of the region .As soon as Sardar Alam Khan reached Gilgit, he realized that it was very easy to govern the people here, he relieved the president of the Gilgit Provisional State and himself became the head of this independent region as a representative ( political agent ) of Pakistan. All these actions were not legalized in any way, nor did the attention of the people here go to what is going to happen to them in the near future, the people were told that the Government of Pakistan has taken over the region and changed this region from Jamuria-Gilgit to Gilgit Agency and sent its representative to manage it. The Government of Pakistan had temporarily taken over the administrative control of Gilgit Baltistan through its Political Agent. At the same time, India went to the Security Council with the Maharaja's accession letter, the Security Council warned Pakistan about interfering in the state of Hari Singh, the Government of Pakistan also appeared in the United Nations and both these countries agreed to the formation of UNCIP and the first resolution of UNCIP was passed on 13 August 1948. After the adoption of the UN resolutions, the Gilgit Baltistan's desire to accede to Pakistan was closed forever until the resolution of the Kashmir dispute because Gilgit Baltistan was a unit of Maharaja Hari Singh's state of Jammu and Kashmir, as the whole of Jammu and Kashmir became disputed. When the accession of the maharaja became legal, the accession of the subordinate Rajas automatically became null and void. Pakistan had two options. The first was to recall Sardar Muhammad Alam and recognize the Republic of Gilgit Baltistan, the second was to move forward by recognizing Gilgit Baltistan as a disputed territory. Therefore, the second option was adopted. The policy makers of the government of Pakistan thought that if we do not accept the government of Gilgit Baltistan on November 1, 1947, Gilgit Baltistan will remain controversial and the vote of the people here will also be useful to us in the form of a consensus on Kashmir. That is why the unilateral attempt to annex Gilgit Baltistan was rejected. Immediately after the UN resolutions, the government of Pakistan prioritized a strategy to strengthen its administrative hold on Gilgit Baltistan as a disputed region by designing the Karachi Agreement. After this agreement came into being, the free status of Gilgit Baltistan now turned into a disputed status. Gilgit Baltistan did not remain in the independent status of November 1, nor did the dream of accession to Pakistan come true. Gilgit Baltistan is still unrecognized today after 77 years, India-controlled Ladakh, has the status of a regular union territory , its people are represented in the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, but Gilgit Baltistan is neither a constitutional part of any country in the world nor have its own constitution. The fate of Gilgit Baltistan was that the region had turned from an occupied region to a free region, which became a disputed region. Gilgit Baltistan nation lost the won game and today they are forced to live without identity and sovereignty. The restoration of the autonomous and self-governing government of Gilgit Baltistan of November 1, 1947 has become inevitable. This is also consistent with UN resolutions. Moreover, no administrative set-up, executive order decree or court decision can be a substitute for the rights of self-determination and freedom of the people of Gilgit Baltistan. Manzoor Hussain Parwana The writer is a political leader and social activist of Gilgit Baltistan.