Dinesh Manhotra

Tribune News Service

Jammu, June 14

Annoyed at Pakistan’s arbitrary move to declare the strategic Gilgit-Baltistan region as its fifth province, political and religious groups of Kargil have warned Islamabad against suppressing the aspirations of the “deprived and subjugated” inhabitants of the illegally occupied erstwhile Jammu and Kashmir.Gilgit-Baltistan, a part of the erstwhile princely state of Jammu and Kashmir, has been under the control of Pakistan since 1947, but now the Government of Pakistan has planned to declare it as its fifth province. The decision has evoked a strong reaction from inhabitants of Gilgit-Baltistan, who are on the warpath to oppose it tooth and nail.“We are with the agitating people of Gilgit-Baltistan due to our cultural and ethnic similarities,” Sheikh Nazir Mehdi Mohammadi, president of Islamia School Kargil, told The Tribune. He said the Government of Pakistan was trying to suppress the aspirations and wishes of the inhabitants of the illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir. “Along with residents of Gilgit-Baltistan, we will take up this issue at appropriate international forums to expose the nefarious designs of Pakistan,” he asserted. Shias of Kargil have cultural, religious, languages and ethnic similarities with the people of Gilgit-Baltistan.“We will not be a mute spectator to the nefarious designs of the Government of Pakistan. We will support our brethren in Gilgit-Baltistan in their fight to protect their ethnic and cultural identities,” said Asgar Ali Karbalia, Kargil MLA. He said the Government of Pakistan should be exposed, adding the step would help in putting an end to the crime against humanity being committed in Gilgit-Baltistan.There is a feeling among political and religious groups of Kargil that the Pakistani establishment has been brazenly indulging in persecuting natives of Gilgit-Baltistan on one pretext or the other.“India is a stakeholder in the dispute and must play a role in bringing a solution to the issue. It has a responsibility to help open the LoC and unite divided families,” Mohammadi said and reiterated the demand for opening the Kargil-Skardu road to facilitate meeting of the divided families living on both sides of the LoC.In Kargil, there are two dominating religious institutions — Islamia School and Imam Khomini Memorial Trust. Gilgit-Baltistan was part of the Ladakh region of the Dogra dynasty of J&K before 1947. Like Poonch and Rajouri, there are many divided families in Kargil that have relatives across the LoC.Kargil residents have reasons to oppose Pakistan’s plan because forcibly declaring Gilgit-Baltistan as its fifth province would erode the ethnic and cultural identities across the LoC.Recently, a committee headed by the Adviser on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz of Pakistan had proposed giving the status of a province to Gilgit-Baltistan.Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Punjab and Sindh are the four provinces of Pakistan. It is believed that China’s concerns about the unsettled status of Gilgit-Baltistan prompted Pakistan to change its status.