Washington, DC – Pakistani rulers don’t waste a second mentioning the UNCIP resolution on the Jammu and Kashmir dispute, implying that the dispute has remained unresolved as a result of India’s presence there. However, they fail to educate their own people that the first step toward finding a just and peaceful solution is the unconditional withdrawal of Pakistani citizens and military forces from Gilgit Baltistan.
Gilgit Baltistan is part of the larger territory known as Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir (POJK), which legally joined India on October 26, 1947. Although Pakistan claims Gilgit is self-governing, all local affairs are controlled, directed, and executed from Islamabad.
Pakistan not only violates UNCIP recommendations, but it also disregards every UN resolution and agreement that guarantees the protection of indigenous lands and cultural identity, as well as the primary right of indigenous people of Gilgit Baltistan to their resources.
In March 2019, the United Nations Secretary-General, referring to the UN Guidelines on Responsible Governance of Land, spoke about conflicts exacerbating climate risks, cultural genocide, natural resource degradation, and indigenous community displacement.
The UN documents remind us that land is more than just a commodity; it is a necessary component for the realization of many economic and cultural rights. The UN resolutions and documents A/76/L.75, A/77/460, A/HRC/55/41, A/HRC/43/53, A/HRC/55/43, and A/HRC/45/38 warn of the dangers of climate change and environmental degradation to indigenous lands, as well as the need for environmentally friendly and responsible enterprise and corporate behavior to mitigate threats to biodiversity and ecosystems while achieving the overarching goal of food security for all.
The documents emphasize the impact of encroachment and land grabbing on local subsistence livelihoods and urge governments not to criminalize indigenous rights defenders. While referring to all relevant resolutions of the General Assembly, Security Council, Human Rights Council, and Economic and Social Council, the secretary general emphasizes that all UN members must respect and implement them.
However, UN members such as Pakistan and China engage in illegal economic and land use activities in Muzaffarabad, Gilgit, and Baltistan, where their constitutional and legal writs do not apply. In Gilgit Baltistan, an increasing number of people are being forcibly evicted or displaced from their ancestral lands to make way for large-scale development or business projects such as dams and mining.
Pakistani and Chinese policies of illegal occupation, land encroachment, cultural genocide, and demographic change, all of which have a negative impact on residents and undermine long-term biodiversity protection and environmental sustainability, violate UN guidelines.
The Pakistani military’s business ventures with Chinese companies are resulting in massive deforestation, river pollution, and rapid glacial melt. Pakistan and China continue to build mega-dams in POJK without compensating local owners. The projects will submerge fertile croplands, as well as ancient petroglyphs and rock etchings. An estimated 55,000 Hindu and Buddhist petroglyphs and rock etchings from the Scythian (Sakas), Sogdian, Mauryan, Tibetan, and Gupta eras are threatened due to careless and selfish economic policies.
These invading corporations are seizing tourist attractions, pristine lakes and forests, and prime agricultural lands in order to maximize profits at the expense of locals. One such military-affiliated company, Green Tourism Limited, rejects local participation and continues to pose a serious threat to local economic freedom and biodiversity.
Fatehullah Khan, a local minister, claims that the Gilgit government does not have the authority to cancel lands allotted to Pakistanis and Chinese. China-led industrial and special economic zones will be built on land that has already been handed over to foreign companies with no financial compensation for the owners.
The United Nations Human Rights Council Resolution A/HRC/40/L.22/Rev.1 recognizes the role of environmental human rights defenders in achieving sustainable development. Nonetheless, Pakistan imprisons and declares Gilgit Baltistan’s environmental rights defenders terrorists for speaking out against encroachment on protected native lands. All activists detained under Schedule 4 of the Anti-Terrorism Act are denied basic rights, including the ability to travel outside their home district and obtain ID cards, passports, bank accounts, college admissions, and employment.
The Awami Action Committee (AAC), the largest local political conglomerate, opposes Pakistani-imposed land reforms as a ploy to change ethnic demographics and deprive locals of a clean environment, livelihood, and land ownership. Hundreds of AAC activists have been charged under the Anti-Terrorism Act with no legal recourse.
Pakistan is changing the definition of indigenous inhabitants of the land, making every Pakistani eligible to claim indigenous status. This directly threatens the local ethnic, religious, and linguistic demographic equation. The local languages related to Kashmiri and Tibetan are on the verge of extinction due to the influx of Pakistani and Chinese settlers.
In March 2017, the UN Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution to protect cultural heritage from unlawful and unconstitutional acts. According to Article 13 of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous peoples have the right to revitalize, use, develop, and pass their languages, traditions, writing systems, and literature down to future generations.
In light of the launch of the International Decade of Indigenous Languages 2022-32, it is important to remember that Pakistan has banned Gilgit Baltistan’s native languages in schools for the past 76 years, forcing students to learn foreign languages such as Urdu and Mandarin instead.
The rise of Sunni militancy in POJK is anathema to the local Shia and Sufi communities. The Shia population in Gilgit Baltistan has decreased from 75% to 45% as a result of illegal Pakistani interventions. Shia massacres have resulted from land disputes between locals and settlers, with the Pakistani military siding with the settlers. Furthermore, the puppet government places religious restrictions on Shias in the name of national security. Despite being the dominant religious denomination, Shia religious education is prohibited in local schools.
In 2022, the UN General Assembly passed Resolution A/77/40, which granted indigenous peoples the fundamental right to self-determination. Let us remind the relevant authorities that the indigenous people of POJK are constitutional citizens of India who want to reunite with their ethnic brethren in Jammu and Ladakh to preserve, revitalize, and promote their culture and languages.
Balti and Shina speakers in Ladakh lead much better lives. They have constitutional rights, genuine democracy, and judicial independence. They don’t have to worry about food or fodder security. The rapid economic growth and functioning democracy inspire the people of Gilgit Baltistan to reunite with India, which is the primary reason for China and Pakistan’s continued atrocities in Gilgit Baltistan.
At this juncture, when Pakistan and China refuse to withdraw from Gilgit Baltistan, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples should visit the occupied region to meet with local environmental and cultural activists and learn about the ground reality.
Senge Sering
Senge Sering is a native of Pakistan-occupied-Gilgit-Baltistan and runs the Washington DC based Gilgit Baltistan Studies
