‘Will go to Kargil’: What’s going on in Gilgit-Baltistan?

It’s turbulent times for Pakistan. India’s neighbouring country is facing all types of trouble; it’s politics is in doldrums and its economy is in the dumps. As the country tries to tackle its problems, the country is also facing mass protests in the region of Gilgit-Baltistan and calls from people to leave the nation in lieu of Kargil.What’s going on there? Why are people threatening to leave for India? What does this mean for the crisis-ridden country? Here’s what we know.Protests in Gilgit-Baltistan regionOn social media, mostly now-rebranded X, videos have been emerging of people in Pakistan-occupied Gilgit-Baltistan region carrying out mass protests and chanting slogans against the nation.In one of the videos on social media (none of them have been verified), people in the region of Skardu collected in large numbers and protested against the Pakistani authorities and chanted slogans against the country. One of the leaders of the protest can be heard threatening that they would ‘break down the doors and move to Kargil”.An earlier video, posted on 25 August, shows similar demonstrations in the Gilgit-Baltistan area with Wazir Hasnain, a social worker in the region, saying, “We will not go to your Sindh, we will not go to your Punjab. We do not want to live in your country, open the way to Kargil, we will go to Kargil.”In the videos posted one can also hear the locals chanting “Chalo, chalo Kargil chalo”.Notably, there have been no media reports of these protests in Pakistani media.The protests that have been raging for over a week in the area are owing to the filing of an FIR against Agha Baqir Al-Hussaini, a reputed Shia cleric of the region. Authorities filed a blasphemy case against him for the remarks he made at an ulema council meeting in Skardu. The meeting had been held to discuss Pakistan’s stricter blasphemy laws, which many believe is to target the Shia community.On 30 August, it was reported that authorities would clamp down on protesters and ensure that movement on highways is smooth. A heavy contingent of GB Scouts, Rangers and police will be deployed in all major cities to maintain law and order, said officials to Dawn.[caption id="attachment_13065332" align="alignnone" width="640"]

Locals of Gilgit-Baltistan carry out a mass protest in Skardu to express their anger against Pakistani government. Image Courtesy: Twitter[/caption]Pakistan’s blasphemy lawsEarlier in the year, Pakistan strengthened its blasphemy laws, extending them to punish anybody who offended people connected to Prophet Muhammad. Critics say the blasphemy law is often misused against Pakistan’s tiny minority groups and even against Muslims to settle personal scores.Critics argue that blasphemy convictions are common in the nation and at least 85 people have been murdered since 1990 in relation to blasphemy allegations.“Religious hatred is deeply intoxicated in the social structures due to lack of education, and for students, it is injected through the curriculum. Masses who may not be aware of their basic rights guaranteed by the constitution are fully acquainted with the use of blasphemy laws to settle their personal vendetta,” Ruth Stephen, a minority rights activist, told Deutsche Welle.About Gilgit-BaltistanGilgit-Baltistan is a Shia-majority region, located in Pakistan’s northernmost territory. It provides the only to China, meeting the Xinjiang Autonomous Region. To Gilgit-Baltistan’s west is Afghanistan, to its south is Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, and to the east, is Jammu and Kashmir.India considers Gilgit-Baltistan as its own territory, a part of the former princely state of Jammu and Kashmir that acceded to India in full after Independence, and which has been under illegal Pakistani occupation.In 2020, the government told Parliament that India’s “consistent and principled position, as also enunciated in the Parliament resolution adopted unanimously by both Houses on 22 February 1994, is that the entire Union Territories of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh have been, are and shall be an integral part of India”.It said that the “Government monitors all developments taking place in the territories of India including in territories that are under illegal and forcible occupation of Pakistan.”Also read: Twitter relocates Gilgit-Baltistan users to India, sends digital shockwaves across PakistanTwo years later, on the occasion of Shurya Diwas (27 October), Defence Minister Rajnath Singh had said in Srinagar that India had “only just begun walking north”, and the journey would end when “we… reach the remaining parts (of PoK), Gilgit and Baltistan”.The people of Gilgit-Baltistan are physically and culturally far removed from India, and have very little connect with India. Some have in the past demanded a merger with Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, but they have no real connect with Kashmir either.However, the blasphemy laws and violence against the Shia community is changing the perception of the people in the region. Recently, there have been calls for independence amongst its people.With inputs from agencies