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Pakistan has pronounced to elevate Gilgit-Baltistan’s status to that a full-fledged province with all constitutional rights, a Pakistani media report on Thursday quoted a senior minister as saying.
India has clearly conveyed to Pakistan that the entire union territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh, including the areas of Gilgit and Baltistan, are integral part of the country by virtue of its fully legal and irrevocable accession.
What is Gilgit-Baltistan?
It is a high-altitude territory at the north-western region of Jammu and Kashmir. This region was a part of the erstwhile princely state of Jammu and Kashmir, but tribal militants and Pakistan army invaded this region in November 4, 1947. The region was renamed “The Northern Area of Pakistan”. The “Northern Area” is not to be confused with PoK, another illegally occupied territory which Pakistan calls “Azad Kashmir”. The Pakistani government enacted the Gilgit-Baltistan Empowerment and Self-Governance Order in August 2009, the “Northern Area” came to be known as Gilgit-Baltistan.
How did the Pakistan capture Gilgit-Pakistan in 1947?
Pakistan got possession of this area through the connivance of two British military officers. This area is strategical important due to this reason, the Gilgit agency was leased for 60 years by the British from the Maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir. With approaching Independence, the British terminated the lease, and returned the region to the Maharaja on August 1, 1947. When Maharaja Hari Singh acceded to India on October 31, 1947, Major Brown imprisoned Brigadier Ghansara Singh (appointed as governor of this region), and informed to British Political Agent, Lt Colonel Roger Bacon, who was then at Peshawar, of the accession of Gilgit to Pakistan.
The China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is a collection of infrastructure projects worth around $46 billion meant to deepen economic ties between China and Pakistan. It was launched in 2015 and passes through Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and Balochistan. The CPEC, which connects Gwadar Port in Pakistan’s Balochistan with China’s Xinjiang province.
Source :- Indian Express, Economic Times, Time of India and Image from google.
