Around the world, the Eid weekend passed in much frenzy. Shopping, eating, gatherings, more eating in gatherings – pure divine bliss. In a month of dedication to God people ask for higher income, better jobs, and bigger houses; but there are some unfortunate dreaming of having an equal chance at life as others, praying for the next meal.
Just like the last Eid, this Eid too the power outrages were the common theme of the Holy month in the sweltering heat. While developing the hydropower projects Pakistan promised 24×7 electricity and heating systems, and technological upgradations in Gilgit Baltistan (GB). Today the region hardly gets 4 hours of power supply. The locals are enraged because GB-based power plants supply electricity to all provinces in Pakistan, thousands of kilometers away; but GB does not see the light of a glowing bulb. Moreover, GB is not even compensated for their resources in any manner by the government sitting in Islamabad, dominated by Punjab.
Rather than showing benevolence, Punjab has decided to torture them further. Every year GB received 1.6 million sacks of wheat from the Punjab province at subsidized rates. This time they decided to cut the wheat quota to 1.4 million sacks and reduced the subsidy. The GB population was guaranteed the food grain; it’s the only thing they asked for in return for selling or pawning off everything they own but per usual, the government did not keep its word.
Moreover, the government decided to further push the GB citizens into a debt trap by imposing new tax laws. The laws faced a lot of backlash during their introduction in 2018 because GB was guaranteed tax amnesty by Pakistan from the beginning. Their recent reintroduction has the business community on the roads. Pakistan collects indirect tax from GB in the name of sales tax on products made in Pakistan and tax on travel using the PIA planes. The locals have the ultimate bearing of the sales tax and if tax imposition practice is made permanent, native businesses in GB will not be able to stay afloat. And if that happens, GB will be dependent upon Pakistan for basic goods. Pak Punjab schemes to fully control the region.
Now if businesses will be unable to sustain themselves, people will be dependent upon jobs. Lack of employment opportunities is already a huge issue because people from mainland Pakistan fill up all public and private spaces in GB. Moreover, the educational infrastructure is so poor in GB, that children are better off learning from their elder community members. The prevalent, designed drug problem among youth also keeps them out of school almost as if the government is forcing illiteracy among the children. Pakistanis that have settled in GB harass young teenage girls. Their provocative comments and sexual insinuations urge the parents to not let the girls leave the house for education.
Female education is at its all-time low and no corrective measures are being taken by the government. The federal government had promised schools, universities, and medical colleges to GB but to date, they have not materialized. Since the earthquake in October 2005 the damaged school buildings remain in the same condition as some sort of relic, a daily reminder of the failures of the government the locals have to put up with. Without education employment is impossible, and without employment, GB has to depend upon the Pakistan government for food and welfare cheques, which was the plan all along.
The healthcare system in GB is also a mere joke. There are 120 union councils in GB, all lacking well-trained maternity nurses and health workers. Most people do not have the bandwidth to go to bigger cities for healthcare. Moreover, most of the hospitals are inaccessible to people during peak winters. People who live in remote mountains have to depend on themselves and in most cases pregnant women and the aged die from infections caused by self-treatment. The two main hospitals in GB do not have the caliber to perform emergency and advanced surgeries. Hospitals also remain closed according to their whims and wishes. Now how will the common man be guaranteed health in GB?
The exploitation of Gilgit-Baltistan has led to uncontrollable street protests since December 2022. The people have gone so far as to voice a reunification with India seeing Indian Kashmir’s progress and fast-paced developments. People are comparing fruit and vegetable prices in the two Kashmirs, and questioning the federal government why is it that Pakistan has ignored the very territory it claims to have freed seven decades back. The people of GB have understood how they were manipulated by Pakistan in the name of Islam and they aren’t the ones to spare. People of pre-independence era, recall the better life lived under Khalsa Raj.