Grant GB ‘provisional province’ status was the unanimous recommendation of the Seminar on ‘Gilgit-Baltistan in National Security Calculus’

ISLAMABAD, June 1: Grant GB ‘provisional province’ status was the unanimous recommendation of the seminar on ‘Gilgit-Baltistan in National Security Calculus’ organised by the Centre for Aerospace & Security Studies (CASS) in Islamabad. The discussion focused on the current political status of GB, its role in securing China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), its linkage with the Jammu & Kashmir dispute and recommended a way forward according to the aspirations of the people of the region.
Eminent speakers included Major General DrEhsanMehmood Khan, Director General, Institute for Strategic Studies, Research & Analysis (ISSRA); Mr. Afzal Ali Shigri, Former Inspector General, Police Service of Pakistan; Justice Syed ManzoorGillani, former Chief Justice Supreme Court and High Court, Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK); Ambassador Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry, Director General, Institute of Strategic Studies Islamabad (ISSI). The seminar was chaired by President CASS Air Marshal FarhatHussain Khan (Retd), while AsadUllah Khan, Senior Researcher at the Centre moderated the proceedings.
While delivering the Opening Address, Air Marshal FarhatHussain Khan highlighted
that proximity with Afghanistan, China, IIOJK and AJK made GB strategically important. ThePresident lamented that despite the seven-decade old desire of its populace and firm commitments by all three major political parties of Pakistan, GB was neither a province ofPakistan nor part of the federation. The people of GB continue to be deprived of their basicfundamental rights granted to all citizens and were not stakeholders in any decision-makingin the country. ‘By ignoring the wishes of the people of GB, in this information age, the stateof Pakistan unintentionally may be creating various fault lines, including alienation of itspeople, that could be exploited by the enemy and impact Pakistan’s national security and security of CPEC,’ he warned.
In his Keynote Address, Major General DrEhsanMehmood Khan provided an in-depth assessment of national security, its various contours and linked it to the geographic, cultural, historical, and geostrategic significance of GB. He pointed out that GB was a heterogenous region marked by ethnic, linguistic, and sectarian diversities rather than differences. According to him, geographically and culturally, the region was a natural part of Pakistan. Major General Khan also discussed GB’s role in national defence as the region is Pakistan’s mountainous and glacial frontier with a history of belligerence from India. In his assessment, GB provided all-weather connectivity for CPEC and shared that Maqpon Das was a vital Special Economic Zone apart from other tourist and fruit processing zones. The Keynote Speaker was of the view that the positive role of GB’s youth in Pakistan’s development should not be underestimated given its highest literacy rate as well as theiremphatic denunciation of sectarianism and violence through educational activism. The’national security of Pakistan is inextricably linked with GB’, he concluded. – PR