Guys, we know that India has issues with Pakistan and China over the illegally occupied Kashmir. Today, we are gonna read about the Issues of Gilgit-Baltistan with Pakistan and Aksai Chin.
What is Gilgit-Baltistan ?
Gilgit-Baltistan is the illegally occupied Kashmir area of Pakistan which has been the subject of a dispute between India and Pakistan since 1947, and between India and China after some time. It borders Azad Kashmir to the south, the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to the west, the Wakhan Corridor of Afghanistan to the north, the Xinjiang region of China, to the east and northeast, and the Indian-administered union territories Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh to the southeast.
What is the history of Gilgit-Baltistan ?
After Pakistan’s independence, Jammu and Kashmir initially remained an independent state. But on 22 October 1947, tribal militias backed by Pakistan crossed the border into Jammu and Kashmir.
Hari Singh made a plea to India for assistance and signed the Instrument of Accession, making his state a part of India. India air-lifted troops to defend the Kashmir Valley and the invaders were pushed back behind Uri.
Sensing their discontent, Major William Brown, the Maharaja’s commander of the Gilgit Scouts, mutinied on 1 November 1947, overthrowing the governor Ghansara Singh. Brown ensured that the treasury was secured and minorities were protected. Pakistan’s political agent, Khan Mohammad Alam Khan, arrived on 16 November and took over the administration of Gilgit.
Alam said to the locals that, "you are a crowd of fools led astray by a madman. I shall not tolerate this nonsense for one instance... And when the Indian Army starts invading you there will be no use screaming to Pakistan for help, because you won't get it."...
On 1 January 1948, India took the issue of Jammu and Kashmir to the United Nations Security Council. In April 1948, the Council passed a resolution calling for Pakistan to withdraw from all of Jammu and Kashmir and for India to reduce its forces to the minimum level, following which a Voting procedure would be held to ascertain the people’s wishes. However, no withdrawal was ever carried out by Pakistan. India insisted that Pakistan had to withdraw but Pakistan contended there was no guarantee that India would withdraw afterwards. Gilgit-Baltistan, along with the western districts that came to be called Azad Kashmir, have remained under the illegal control of Pakistan ever since.
Why does it concern us ?
Pakistan is trying to make its illegally occupied land as its legal province as the Prime Minister of Pakistan, Imran Khan announced that Gilgit-Baltistan would attain provisional provincial status after the 2020 Gilgit-Baltistan Assembly election. How can someone claim a land without any legal authority over it. According to the Instrument of Accession, the whole area of Jammu and Kashmir belongs to India and eventually they should return it to India. Rather than that they are constructing CPEC so that China would be able to intervene in times of war.
