The Pakistani Daleets.

Creation of new provinces for various ethnic groups in Pakistan is a hot debate nowadays in the electronic and print media. The premises on which such arguments are based are fulfillment of public wishes, redemption of their grievances and instilling sense of patriotism so that another East Pakistan is not created.

Whether it is the Hazara province, Bahawalpur province, Saraiki province or the division of Sindh, the argument is that it is the legal right of the people entrusted to them by the constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. Amid all these hues, one region of this country is missing. No one talks about their grievances. No one talks about their sense of deprivation. No one highlights their patriotism, and that region is the ever neglected Gilgit Baltistan.

Many bilateral agreements have been penned down between India and Pakistan to formulate a way for Kashmir dispute. It’s an irony that the people of Gilgit Baltistan – an important stakeholder of the issue have never been taken onboard in such discussions. It has always been ignored and was never consulted whether it was regarding their will while penning down the Karachi Agreement or any any such bilateral dailouges.

The people of GB have no representation in National Assembly and Senate, yet some of the most renowned personalities such as Nazir Sabir, Hassan Stapara, Lalak Jan hail from this region.  They are Pakistanis for their achievements, but not Pakistanis when it comes to their constitutional rights. Let’s accept that the people of GB are Daleets of Pakistan and are deprived of their very basic human and constitutional rights since their independence.

What is the contribution of the people of Gilgit Baltistan to Pakistan? Well, they annexed the region with Pakistan without any prior conditions. They fought bravely in the war of 1948; they shed their blood in the Kargil war. They never conspired against Pakistan. They never burnt Pakistani flags. Despite of being in limbo, they showed more patriotism to their country compared to the people of any other administrative provinces.

What, in return, Pakistan has materialized GB? To say few, no constitutional rights, no administrative authority, no inclusion in any talks on Kashmir issue, no medical college, no engineering university, no basic infrastructure, no plan for mountaineering and tourism, no technical college. Nothing!!

The people of GB are Daleets of Pakistan. Will any CM of any province talk about their rights? Will any intellectual brainstorm about their plights? Will any media programme also cover their wishes like they do for Kashmiris? Perhaps no, because the state imposes its laws on minorities, it doesn’t give them their due share of rights. And being a minority, the people of GB will remain in constitutional and administrative limbo.