Even in normal times, scant attention is paid in the Indian media about developments in Gilgit-Baltistan, an integral and strategic part of Jammu and Kashmir.
Even the nibbling away of Gilgit territory by Pakistan and handing it over to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, has no takers in India.
Little wonder then that caught up as we are in the din and dust of the grand Indian elections, the protests in Gilgit-Baltistan which started on April 15, 2014 and have now entered their fourth day, have not even created a ripple in India, and even in Jammu and Kashmir. Contrast this with the slightest dislocation in Jammu and Kashmir making waves in Pakistan.
These protests in Gilgit-Baltistanhave been provoked by the withdrawal of wheat subsidy in the region. In 2011, the PPP government in Islamabad had decided to withdraw 70 per cent of the wheat subsidy given by the federal government. However, there were protests including a Long March from Yasin Valley. The PPP-led Gilgit government had withdrawn the order before the march reached Gilgit.
Earlier this year, however, with a Nawaz Sharif-led PML-N government in Islamabad, the Gilgit authorities were compelled to implement the withdrawal of the wheat subsidy. This even provoked the region's Finance Minister Muhammad Ali Akhtar to support the call for resistance against the withdrawal.
The withdrawal of wheat subsidy provided an opportunity for sensible people to co-opt all sides of the religious divide into the Awami Action Committee (AAC). Formed earlier this year, the AAC tested the waters with a successful shutter down strike onMarch10, 2014 in the entire region.
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The AAC is a coalition of around 20 political parties as well as religious and progressive groups representing the diversity of Gilgit-Baltistan. The AAC has formulated a 9-point charter of demands. While the main point is the restoration and fixation of the price of a 100 kg sack of wheat at Rs 820, it has other demands too like the issue of the Diamer-Bhasha Dam, protecting the region's borders and withdrawing all taxes imposed on the people under "No taxation without Representation" principle.
The most significant thing about the AAC is that it has bridged the sectarian divide and brought the Shias and Sunnis under one umbrella. It may be recalled that since 1988, the Pak Establishment has kept the people of this area divided by stoking sectarian differences.
As a result, there has been persistent sectarian violence and the population distracted in sectarian score-settling rather than protesting their lack of constitutional status.
During the March 10, 2014 shutter-down strike, the sectarian unity held. Subsequently, the residents of Nagar (Shia) invited Qazi Nisar Ahmad a religious leader of the Ahle Sunnat to visit Nagar and the residents of Chilas(Sunni) invited Aga Rahata prominent Shia leader to visit Chilas. During the on-going protests people from different sects have even prayed together, a huge signal of solidarity and unity in diversity.
Between 1947 and 2009, the region had no constitutional status. It was only in 2009 that the Presidential Order - Gilgit-Baltistan Empowerment and Self-Governance Order 2009 created an elected Gilgit-Baltistan Legislative Assembly and Gilgit-Baltistan Council. In effect, Gilgit-Baltistan became aquasi-province without constitutionally becoming part of Pakistan.
This, too, has not really satisfied the 1.8 million populationbecause on the ground very little has changed. Beyond the trappings of autonomy, control continues to be exercised by Islamabad.
The main centre of the protests has been Yadgar Chowk in Skardu and GarhiBagh in Gilgit. Though not yet the size of Tahrir in Cairo or Shahbag in Dhaka, hundreds of protesters have spent the entire night at these iconic places, braving not only the cold but also Section 144 imposed by the Administration. During the day the number of protesters have increased to thousands in both Skardu and Gilgit.
Sit-ins have also continued in Hunza-Nagar, Ghizar, Astore, Diamer and Ghanche. Groups of people from Rondu and Shigar are reported to have joined the main procession in YadgarChowk, Skardu.
The Chitral-Shandur Road has remained closed. Hundreds of vehicles have also been stuck on the KKH in Hunza -Nagar.
While the protests and the formation of the AAC itself was the result of the withdrawal of the wheat subsidy, nationalists are hoping that the struggle would go beyond this issue. For one, they are hoping that the sectarian unity would hold and be reinforced. Beyond that, there are hopes that the opaque constitutional status of the area would be resolved and they are using this to raise political awareness among the masses.
A combination of the sectarian violence, lack of constitutional status and economic deprivation has increased the alienation of the people from Pakistan. Such feelings are increasingly being articulated on the social media.
Unfortunately, even though all Indian politicians and political parties pay lip service to the unanimous parliamentary resolution of 1994 that the entire princely state of Jammu and Kashmir, as it was in 1947 is part of India, very little is done about it.
For starters, people in India and even in Jammu and Kashmir don't even know what is happening there or what exactly its status is and how Pakistan is surreptitiously making this strategic area its' province, in violation of the UN resolutions and the Shimla Agreement.
The new Indian government would have to pay attention to this neglected issue sooner rather than later.
The views expressed in the above article are that of Mr. Salim Haq.