By IANS
New Delhi : Rising sectarianism and unrest bordering on separatism in Pakistani Kashmir’s sprawling Gilgit-Baltistan region, known as Northern Areas, could affect neighbouring countries like Afghanistan and India, says a new book.
“Pakistan Occupied Kashmir: The Untold Story” (Manas Publications) says growing alienation in the mineral rich region has given “India a valuable leverage against Pakistan and, therefore, has the capability to affect Indo-Pakistan relations”.
Commander Alok Bansal of the Indian Navy, one of the editors of the volume, says that as “violence intensifies in Gilgit-Baltistan and it comes into the limelight, it will definitely take away the focus from Kashmiri outfits based in (the) Kashmir Valley” of Jammu and Kashmir.
The Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses has brought out the book, with Virendra Gupta and Bansal as editors.
Gilgit and Baltistan form the vast northern part of Jammu and Kashmir that Pakistan seized in 1947-48 and quickly renamed it “Northern Areas” – as opposed to that smaller portion that Islamabad calls “Azad Kashmir”.
Gilgit-Baltistan is spread over 28,000 sq miles and houses some two million people, mostly Shias. A mountainous region, it borders both Afghanistan and China. The Karokaram Highway from Pakistan to China passes through this area.
According to the book, a collection of 11 scholarly pieces, the policies pursued by Islamabad, which directly rules Gilgit-Baltistan, has affected the area dangerously, thanks mainly to the induction of sectarian and fundamentalist madrassa culture.
The carefully orchestrated demographic changes have depleted job opportunities for the locals, inducted gun culture including clashes between Shias and non-Shias, and replaced spiritual values associated with the Shias with crass materialism, it says.
Gilgit-Baltistan is in turmoil, says Bansal, adding that the region “has become a stage for violent protests by the impoverished population… The discontentment within the populace of ‘Northern Areas’ has been increasing over the years…
“Statements by members of Gilgit-Baltistan United Movement (accusing) the Indian government of not doing enough for them (and demanding) reservation in Indian educational institutions for (them) shows the level of their alienation with Pakistan…
“Outsiders have brought in fundamentalism and madrassa culture. Today Gilgit and Baltistan produce more Ulemas than much more populous Punjab. Regular influx of outsiders with government connivance has increased the feeling of insecurity among locals…
“The situation in Gilgit and Baltistan is deteriorating fast. In the face of Pakistani apathy, local grievances have given rise to an ethno-nationalist movement that is rallying the population to reassert the region’s unique cultural identity. They would neither like to join an independent Kashmir nor be a part of Pakistan…
“As the alienation of population grows, the support base for separatist movements is also growing,” Bansal says.
According to Bansal, with the intensification of the war in Afghanistan, a number of senior Al Qaeda leaders are reported to have taken refuge in Chitral and Gilgit-Baltistan. In the long term, this will have grave implications for Afghanistan besides drawing the attention of the US.
He warns that as the alienation increases, it would have far reaching effects on the entire region.