Pakistan’s Sinister Plans for Ethnic Cleansing of Gilgit Baltistan (PoTL): A Report

 

In a study conducted by Delhi based think-tank, Law and Society Alliance, has revealed that since Pakistan has illegally occupied the Gilgit Baltistan portion of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir, Pakistan has altered the demography of the Shia dominated region where the native population has been reduced to 39 percent from 80

As reported by IANS, the study was headed by N.C. Bipindra further revealed that the population of G-B is now approximately 15 Lakh, with around 39 percent Shia, 27 percent Sunni, 18 percent Ismaili and 16 percent Nurbakhshi. Earlier, the region was dominantly inhabited by Shia Muslims with a share of 80 percent. As per the last census held in 1998, Gilgit Baltistan had around 8,70,000 inhabitants.

 

Known to be one of the most multi-ethnic, multicultural, and multi-linguist regions of the world, Gilgit Baltistan, in the last seventy years, has not been respected and has faced severe persecution from the Pakistani Army.

The report, titled 'Human Lives Matter: A Comparative Study and Analysis of Human Development and Human Rights in J&K and PoJK/G-B', said that the most severe damage to the culture and ethnicity of the region occurred in 1988, when Pro-Pakistani militants supported and Federal Minister for Kashmir Affairs, launched attacks in the region. Known as 'The Gilgit Massacre', it lasted for 16 days with continuous bloodshed, killing hundreds of people, burning of more than 14 villages and molestation of local women.

 

The report quoted, "People were burnt alive in their homes - not for their fault, but for their faith," adding that till 2013, around 3,000 Shias were massacred by Sunni extremists. Similar claims have been also supported by International Human Rights Observer's (IHRO) G-B chapter, which was released in 2013.

Furthermore, the report stated that about 900 women have been widowed and nearly 2,500 children orphaned. Also "the loss to property is inestimable".

 

On August 16, 2012, in an act of 'targeted genocide' of Shia Muslims in G-B, over a dozen gunmen forced 19 passengers, mostly Shias, off four buses and shot them at point-blank range. It was the third such incident in six months, only to be followed by many more similar occurrences.

 

In another incident, 18 Shia pilgrims were openly killed on the Karakoram Highway in Kohistan district while returning from Iran on February 28, 2012. Another brutal attack claimed the lives of 20 people at Chilas on April 3 that year.

 

Shias of the G-B region are often targeted in Pakistan. In the aftermath of violence in Gilgit, two Shias from G-B were shot dead in Quetta on April 3 and Ahmer Abbas, a Shia student from G-B, was shot dead in Karachi on April 6, 2012.

 

"The entire Shia community has been deeply shocked by the unending spate of targeted killings. The government seems to be concerned over peacocks dying in Sindh but gives no importance to people mercilessly killed by extremists." said, Allama Asghar Askari, Deputy General Secretary of Majlis-i-Wahdat Muslimeen (MWM).

Systematic Ethnic Cleansing of Gilgit Baltistan by Pakistan

 

Pakistan under Zia-ul-Haq, made several continuous attempts to alter the ethnic demography of the region. Post 1980s, Sunni Muslims from Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa started to make an influx through business routes and started to gradually settle in the region, the report added.

 

Researcher and activist Samuel Baid pointed out that terror training camps which were run in G-B with the active support of the Pakistani Army have bred hundreds of Sunni Jihadis of the Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP), who are now operating all across the region, killing Shia Muslims. Even Inspector General of G-B, Hussain Asghar went on record to say: "I don't think there is any foreign hand involved in sectarian riots,” when asked about Pakistani claims that foreign forces are involved in the G-B riots,

 

The detailed study has as if opened a can of worms, it was revealed that not only that the Shia, Ismaili and Nurabakhshi communities have been the targets, rather, the liberal Sunni Muslims have also been victims of attempts of Pakistani government and Army to cleanse the region and populate it with staunch Sunni Muslims.

The injustice against Shias of Gilgit Baltistan is not new as inhabitants have been voicing their concern about their region that it is being under Taliban attack from the Waziristan region and is “being used as safe havens for jihadis, supported by the Salafi elements in the Pakistan Army.”

 

At the 13th session of the UN Human Rights Council, Abdul Hamid Khan of the Balwaristan National Front said: "Human rights abuses are widespread and common in G-B for many decades but the absence of local media and independent judiciary have helped Islamabad to hide its illicit practices."

 

The report claimed that Pakistan has also been working to alter the demography of PoJK, since as early as 1971. It quotes an article written in 1971, titled 'Azad Kashmir: A Colony of Islamic Republic of Pakistan', Convenor of United Kashmir Liberation Front, the UK-based M. Bashir Asef presented details on the attempts made by Pakistan to colonise PoJK and PoTL.

 

Pakistan in 1974 abolished the “State Subject Rule” for G-B and with the introduction of Gilgit-Baltistan Empowerment and Self-governance Order in 2009 snatched land rights from the locals which opened the door for Pakistani settlements in the illegally occupied Indian region of the UT of Ladakh.

 

The land grabbing is not limited elites from other regions of Pakistan. But also politicians like Imran Khan, former President Parvez Musharraf, Senator Talha Mahmood and Hamid Gul and many others. Even Chinese citizens, who initially came to work on China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), have now settled all across PoTL.

 

The cleansing of Ethnic population is also done under the cover of CPEC which is being guarded by 7,000 to 11,000 PLA soldiers. Claims a 2010 Stratfor report. Also, that the number is expected to multiply manifold by today..

In addition, many radical Pakistani musclemen, including former Army officers, are being roped-in to work on projects of CPEC. These Wahhabi Sunni workers permanently settle in G-B, further radicalising the region and wiping out the Shia majority.

 

The Pakistan government not only prefers to award contracts of projects in PoTL to the Army of the local workforce, but also later settles them in the region. The local workforce is deprived of labour rights, as they are barred from making labour unions. The obvious reason behind facilitating settlement of Army personnels in the region is to ensure a dominating position along the Line of Control (LoC) in case of confrontation with India.