Gilgit Baltistan and South Asia

Gilgit Baltistan and South Asia

Author Name : Dr. Sanjay Kumar

ABSTRACT

Gilgit Baltistan, originally a part of the erstwhile princely state of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) and later part of Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK) is legally an integral part of India.

Gilgit Baltistan comprises 86 per cent of the total area of Pakistan occupied Kashmir. 1 The Karakoram Highway via Gilgit Baltistan connects China with Pakistan. Till China’s presence was reported by the media, Gilgit Baltistan was largely absent from the regional strategic discourse, more specifically Kashmir. Even though the Kargil intrusion and the

subsequent war in 1999 was launched by Pakistan from its bases across the LoC in Gilgit Baltistan, it was the reports of Chinese presence which brought this part of PoK into focus. 2 Kashmir problem has remained a major catalyst of militarization, open and protracted wars, extremism, and underdevelopment in South Asia. Gilgit and Baltistan’s estimated population of 1.2 million includes four denominations of Islam—Shiite (39 percent), 2 Sunni (27 percent), Ismaili (18 percent), and Noorbakshi (16 percent)—and at least twenty-four ethnic and linguistic groups. 3

Key Words: Strategic Perspective, Political Perspective, Occupied, Loc, Khunjerab Pass on the Karakoram highway.