Gilgit-Baltistan: A misconceived saga

It has been streaking years since Neil Armstrong moved out of this planet for a new voyage to moon with a fellow American namely Aldrin and reportedly walked for almost three hours. This helped in garnering hope in a bid to discover new surfaces for the human beings on this very planet. Here the whole scene usually suggests the realm of strong desire of oneself in pursuing a task even though riddled with intricacies rife on the way.
Interestingly, it further rebirths the old cliché; where there is a will, there is a way. But contrary to this, the other side of the picture is vague and more ambiguous and also under wrapped in perplexity of despondency when one has no desire or any sort of intention especially if we take the fate of Gilgit-Baltistan as an illustration, which is not less than a quagmire even in this era. The hope of a constitutionalized GB sadly lingers on with each and every single political upheaval. This reflects dearth of intention in the power nexus of federal government to propose a provincial status to the people of Gilgit-Baltistan.
Similarly, it portrays that if Neil Armstrong had no strong desire to go on a voyage than it too would have been an elusive dream like it is for GB now. After all strong desire is a raison d’être to break the impasse.
In a mainstream political culture, what dilute the case of constitutionalizing Gilgit-Baltistan, are usually poor analysis of the Kashmir Saga and the wrong amalgamation of GB with the Jammu and Kashmir. As the history says that in a partition plan of the British India under Lord Mountbatten, it was made explicit that the princely states under her majesty’s rule would be allowed either to opt India or Pakistan based on their choice.
However, this led to a pandemonium when the Maharaja of Kashmir put the weight towards the Indian political elites with myriads of other factors inter alia political miscalculation and dearth of strategic approaches in the effective implementation of the proposed partition plan. But it was a just like a catastrophe for the people of Gilgit-Baltistan which they vehemently opposed and started guerilla fighting against the infamous Dogra forces. This resulted in a massive loss of both lives and properties of the downtrodden inhabitants but ultimately led to a successful accession to Pakistan.
Notwithstanding, the war ended in Gilgit-Baltistan’s way but the constitutional impasse remains since hitherto even after 73 years of independence interestingly in between, apart from Neil Armstrong, 12 other astronauts also successfully put foothold on moon but the triumphant Gilgit-Baltistan sadly stumbles after all.
This picture not only shows that Gilgit-Baltistan is a separate entity having unjust indulgence in Kashmir Saga but also solves the GB’s own conundrum by forging ways in a balanced approach. This can be gauged as due representation in National Assembly and Senate along with participation on equal footing in National Finance Commission and other state institutions and so on in the federal legislature.
It is high time that now those in power saddle should sit and revisit the history and also a clear and comprehensive analysis should be done for the entailment of misconceived Gilgit Baltistan in a mainstream political system which they deserve all the way.
Furthermore, this précised and composed decisive endeavor would also be very helpful in delineating the course of overall country’s metamorphosis from economic stagnation to the economic consolidation by fostering tourism industry and inclusive infrastructure as the growing exposure in the tourism sector and accretion of the strategic pivots can never be underutilized. But all these are possible only if the country owns it as an integral part and takes it as asset.