Alhassanain(p) Network for Heritage and Islamic Thought

Caught in a new great game?

Report of an HRCP fact-finding mission to Gilgit-Baltistan

www.alhassanain.org/english

Table of Contents

Introduction 3

Focus on Gilgit-Baltistan 6

The 2013 fact-finding mission 6

The team 6

The meetings 7

The report 8

Visit to Skardu 9

Views from the political spectrum 9

Pakistan Peoples’ Party (Skardu chapter) 9

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz 11

Nationalists 12

Religious leaders’ point of view 13

Meeting with Shia clerics 13

Tanzeem Ahl-e-Sunnat 16

Tanzeem Ahl-e-Hadees 17

Civil society and professional bodies 17

The journalists’ story 17

The miners’ story 22

Meetings with police officers 22

Visit to Attabad in Hunza 24

Floating over submerged villages 24

IDPs in Aliabad 25

Visit to Gilgit 26

Musings of the civil society 26

Accounts of writers and artists 26

Women’s rights activists 27

Challenges for the physically challenged 28

Supreme Appellate Court Bar Association 29

Aga Khan Rural Support Programme 31

Political parties’ brief 31

Pakistan Peoples’ Party 31

Muttahida Qaumi Movement 31

Progressive and nationalist parties 32

Considering matters of faith 33

Meeting with Masajid Board 33

Tanzeem Ahl-e-Sunnat Wal Jamaat 36

Wahdatul Muslimeen 36

Administration’s side of the story 38

Governor’s views 38

Five brothers and an epidemic 39

Administration and police officials 39

Findings and conclusions 44

Recommendations 48

Notes 50

Introduction

Gilgit-Baltistan, known until 2009 as the Northern Areas, is located in the northernmost corner of Pakistan. The mountainous region spread over approximately 28,000 square miles borders China, Afghanistan and the Indian-administered Kashmir.

The area is essentially made up of a confederation of valleys. Until the mid-19th century, the areas now making up Gilgit-Baltistan were mostly independent territories which were then invaded by the Dogra rulers of Kashmir and annexed to the state of Kashmir. When the subcontinent gained independence, the British colonial rulers ceded the area to the Maharaja of Kashmir. This triggered a struggle against the Maharaja’s rule, which resulted in the liberation on November 1, 1947 of what is today known as Gilgit-Baltistan. The ruling council of the people of the area decided to accede to Pakistan. The government of Pakistan subsequently sent a political agent to govern the area. It was initially governed under the Frontier Crimes Regulation (FCR).

Gilgit-Baltistan has been treated as part of the disputed Jammu and Kashmir for 66 years even though the local population insists that through the history their region has had a status that has been completely distinct from Kashmir. The populace has demanded, constantly and vociferously, for inclusion of Gilgit-Baltistan in Pakistan as a constitutionally acknowledged unit of the federation and for them to be given the same political and other rights that the citizens of Pakistan enjoy. Even as provincial status within Pakistan has remained the predominant demand, many from the region have questioned that if Gilgit-Baltistan is considered part of the Kashmir dispute, why has it not been given an autonomous status similar to Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK).

The people of this region consider that the prolonged denial of a constitutional identity for Gilgit-Baltistan has been on account of the region being bracketed with the Kashmir dispute and insist that the lingering dispute should not be invoked as a reason to deny them equal rights as Pakistanis.

In 1994, the government of Pakistan introduced the Legal Framework Order, 1994, which served as the constitution of the Northern Areas and acknowledged fundamental rights of the people of this region. In mid-2009, the government of Pakistan introduced Gilgit-Baltistan Empowerment and Self Governance Order, 2009.[1] The 2009 Order was flaunted as bestowing on Gilgit-Baltistan a self-governing status, akin somewhat to the provinces in Pakistan.

Gilgit-Baltistan comprises seven districts; Gilgit and Skardu are the main political centres and the most populous towns. The two districts of Skardu and Ghanche form the Baltistan Division, and the Gilgit Division comprises Diamer , Ghizer , Gilgit , Astore and Hunza-Nagar districts. The population of the region is estimated to be around 1.8 million and is made up of a diversity of ethnic and lingual groups. The major ethnic groups are Sheen, Yashkun, Brusho and Balti, and the major religious sects are Shia, Sunni, Ismaili and Noor Bakhshi.

Gilgit-Baltistan stands out from the rest of Pakistan in many respects. It is the only Shia-majority region in the Sunni-majority country. In addition to the prolonged pursuit of a legal identity for this region and overwhelming demands for acknowledging it as part of Pakistan, much of Gilgit-Baltistan’s recent woes emanate from sectarian violence. The most recent sectarian bloodshed has included execution of scores of Shia men and boys travelling in public transport buses on the road connecting the region to the rest of Pakistan.[2]

The region’s remoteness from the rest of Pakistan is compounded by the fact that it is connected to the country only through the Karakorum Highway (KKH), the highest paved international road in the world, built with China’s cooperation in the 1960s and ’70s. The KKH passes through a high concentration of soaring peaks and huge glaciers. Because of the intractable nature of the terrain and the harsh weather, the road is susceptible to landslides and blockages. The other connection between Gilgit-Baltistan and the rest of Pakistan are the near-daily Rawalpindi-Skardu and Rawalpindi-Gilgit flights, which are highly weather-dependent. Only the more affluent can afford the return airfare which is nearly double the minimum monthly wage.

Some of the highest mountain ranges in the world, the Karakoram, Himalayas, Pamir and Hindukush, meet in Gilgit-Baltistan. The region is home to five of the world’s 14 so-called eight-thousanders, peaks that rise more than 8,000 meters. These include K2 (Mount Godwin-Austen), the second highest peak in the world, and Nanga Parbat, the ninth highest which is acknowledged as a notoriously difficult climb. There are over 50 peaks above 7,000 meters in Gilgit-Baltistan.

This region’s strategic value has been understood for centuries as the crossroads between east and west. Gilgit, the capital of Gilgit-Baltistan, lies on the ancient Silk Route. Gilgit-Baltistan provides the critical land route for the under-construction China -Pakistan Economic Corridor that plans to connect Gwadar Port in southern Pakistan to China’s northwestern Xinjiang region. The corridor is expected to generate tremendous economic opportunities for Gilgit-Baltistan.

The economy relies largely on tourism and agriculture, besides trade through the KKH. A sizeable part of the population lives and works in various parts of Pakistan. The income from foreign tourists and trekking and mountaineering expeditions in Gilgit-Baltistan was dealt a severe blow in June 2013 when 10 foreign climbers were killed in an attack on a base camp of Nanga Parbat in Diamer district. A Taliban-affiliated group claimed responsibility for the attack. The flow of foreign tourists and mountaineering expeditions which was only just beginning to gather pace after sectarian killings in the previous years evaporated after the murder of the climbers.

The serious environmental challenges faced by Gilgit-Baltistan are epitomised by the creation of Attabad Lake, formed after a massive landslide at Attabad village in Gojal valley in Hunza on January 4, 2010. The landslide killed 20 people and created thousands of internally displaced persons. On April 7, 2012, an avalanche struck a Pakistan Army base, at Gayari, near the Siachen glacier, buryingalive 140 soldiers and civilian employees. Avalanches are uncommon in the area of Gayari. Climate change was cited as a possible cause for the disaster.

Gilgit-Baltistan is a land of many identity markers, if not divisions. There are the Sheen and Yashkun divisions, having roots in Baltistan and elsewhere in the region is another division, there are people from Gilgit-Baltistan and the so-called ‘down area’ and then there are divisions based on language.It has been argued that the heightened economic stress on the people has also created and accentuated divisions and other grievances.

Although Gilgit-Baltistan is a region rich in natural resources, it can do with greater commitment to economic development and tapping the potential of this resource-rich landscape of multiple ethno-linguistic heritages.

Najam U Din

Focus on Gilgit-Baltistan

Since it was founded in 1986, the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) has kept a close eye on the legal status of Gilgit-Baltistan and the rights and political representation of the people of this region as issues of utmost significance.

In 1988, HRCP sent a fact-finding mission to the Northern Areas, as Gilgit-Baltistan was called at the time, to probe violent sectarian clashes.

Another HRCP team, with a more extensive mandate,[3] visited the Northern Areas in 1993 in order to assess the set-up of legislation, judiciary, the legal system, the reasons for sectarian violence and what was being proposed or done to address the problems. In 1997, HRCP sent another fact-finding team to the Northern Areas to gauge the changes made there after the reforms following the introduction of the Legal Framework Order, 1994 and its effect.

In 2005, an HRCP fact-finding mission visited the Northern Areas to assess the situation regarding the region’s constitutional status and its impact on people’s rights, the sectarian situation and the administrative set-up, and to elicit the views of various sections of society on these issues.[4]

After the Gilgit-Baltistan Empowerment and Self Governance Order, 2009 was introduced, HRCP sent a mission to the region to observe the November 2009 elections held under the new dispensation.[5]

In 2009, HRCP opened a permanent task force office for the region in Gilgit and also engaged and trained correspondents in all seven districts of Gilgit-Baltistan to be able to better monitor human rights issues there.

The 2013 fact-finding mission

One of the two main fact-finding missions in HRCP’s programme for 2013, the visit to Gilgit-Baltistan was aimed at ascertaining the status of implementation and impact of the system introduced under the 2009 Order; to document major human rights issues; to record the views and concerns of various sections of the population and the measures that they considered necessary to improve the situation.

It also planned to elicit views on the performance of the government and on lack of representation for Gilgit-Baltistan in the federal parliament, its effect and steps needed to remedy the situation. The mission also endeavoured to determine the people’s experience of the 2009 elections under the new law and their views regarding the elections when the legislative assembly completes its five-year term towards the end of 2014. Measuring the impact of natural disasters and recent instances of sectarian violence and terrorism on the population and the response to these challenges by the authorities were also part of the mission’s mandate.[6]

The team

The fact-finding mission consisted of HRCP executive council members Ghazi Salahuddin and Roland D’Souza. They were accompanied by Hussain Naqi and Najam U Din from HRCP Secretariat. The HRCP task-force office, led by its coordinator Israruddin, and HRCP correspondents and volunteers in all seven districts of Gilgit-Baltistan helped arrange meetings with a cross-section of society and facilitated a thorough understanding of the key issues in the region.

HRCP is grateful to all the individuals and organisations that took out the time to meet the mission members and particularly wishes to acknowledge the contribution of both council members who enthusiastically agreed to visit to the region despite their prior travel plans and, in the case of Mr. Salahuddin, despite being unwell at the time.

The fact-finding team arrived in Skardu on October 26, 2013 and after visiting various parts of the region left Gilgit for Islamabad on October 30, 2013. HRCP was cognizant of the fact that a five-day visit would not be enough to grasp the many issues affecting a region that comprises such diversity and complexities. However, an effort was made to hold as extensive deliberations as possible to get the various viewpoints and to understand the challenges and the ways that in the opinion of the people of this region could help overcome the challenges.

The meetings

The HRCP mission arrived in Skardu on October 26 where it met journalists, women’s rights activists, Shia clerics and families of victims of sectarian violence, lawyers, representatives of Pakistan Peoples’ Party, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, nationalists, Tanzeem Ahl-e-Sunnat Baltistan, Tanzeem Ahl-e-Hadees Baltistan, students of Karakorum International University’s Skardu campus, transporters, representatives of All Pakistan Gems and Minerals Association Baltistan and police officers including the senior superintendent of police (SSP) in Skardu. The mission members later proceeded to Gilgit where after an overnight stop they traveled to Attabad in Gojal valley in Upper Hunza where a massive landslide in January 2010 had blocked the Hunza River, caused displacement of thousands of people and submerged a number of villages. The mission members met affectees of the natural disaster at Gulmit village before visiting a camp for displaced persons to document their concerns.

In Gilgit, the mission met Gilgit-Baltistan Governor Pir Syed Karam Ali Shah and several senior members of the Gilgit-Baltistan administration including Chief Secretary Muhammad Younus Dhaga and Home Secretary Dr Attaur Rehman. The mission could not meet the chief minister, Syed Mehdi Shah, as he was abroad at the time.

In Gilgit, the fact-finding mission also met women’s rights activists, representatives of political parties, including Muttahida Qaumi Movement, Pakistan Peoples’ Party and nationalists and progressive parties, Supreme Appellate Court Bar Association Gilgit-Baltistan, Tanzeem Ahl-e-Sunnat Wal Jamat Gilgit-Baltistan and Kohistan, and Visually Impaired Persons Rehabilitation Association (VIPRA). It held meetings with poets and writers, members of the Masajid Board, Wahdatul Muslimeen, chairman of Pakistan Red Crescent Society Gilgit-Baltistan, manager of a Citizen’s Voice project on power. The mission was also informed about the concerns of ad-hoc employees of Civil Secretariat Gilgit and their demands for making their services permanent. The mission also visited the Aga Khan Rural Support Programme office and Jamia Imamia Masjid in Gilgit.

The fact-finding mission’s travel by road from Skardu to Gilgit, on to Hunza and then from Gilgit to Islamabad after cancellation of their flight due to inclement weather enabled them to better understand the condition of the road and also the many woes of the road users, including those travelling by public transport.

The report

This report is based on the views that senior members of the administration, representatives of religious and political parties and various other groups of citizens including sections of civil society shared with the fact-finding team during various meetings. HRCP volunteers and district coordinators provided valuable information about human rights issues in all seven districts of Gilgit-Baltistan and offered insight to understand the issues of concern for the populace.

The conversation and discussion largely took place in Urdu. Even when the views expressed have been paraphrased and summarised, for the sake of brevity and clarity, a deliberate attempt has been made to convey the ideas in the speakers’ own words.

Several meetings that have been mentioned above do not find a detailed account in this report but were instrumental in helping the HRCP team understand the context of important issues.

In order to ensure that the individuals who talked to the HRCP mission are protected from any adverse consequences on account of expressing their views, the identity of the speakers has not been specifically mentioned in most instances. This was considered important to reassure the people that they need not be guarded and cautious in communicating with the mission and should candidly voice their thoughts on the situation in Gilgit-Baltistan.

The accounts of meetings and discussions in Baltistan, Gilgit and Hunza have been given separately to enable the reader to discern any variance in the narratives.