Have we all forgotten PoK for good?

Armed gunmen dressed in army fatigues killed 18 Shias from Gilgit-Baltistan on the Karakoram Highway in Khyber-Pukhtoonkhwa province’s Kohistan area while they were returning in a convoy from a pilgrimage in Iran on February 27.

This report, involving the lives of people from Gilgit-Baltistan, which India claims to be an integral part of its sovereign territory and is now currently under the occupation of Pakistan, was published on the ‘international’ page of one of India’s leading national newspapers. Many others did not bother to publish it at all.

Such an attitude — compared to the front page hype given to racial attacks against ‘mainstream’ Indians in Australia or the US — reflects the gradual disappearance of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir from the nation’s collective consciousness. It is as if India’s political leadership and intelligentsia have accepted the de facto status of J&K and the LoC as de jure.

The situation and the condition of the people in PoK and Northern Areas was highlighted at an international conference organised by the New Delhi-based think tank, India Foundation, recently.

Attending the conference were Mumtaz Khan, a native of PoK, who fled to Canada more than two decades ago because of alleged persecution and Senge Hasnan Sering of Gilgit, who currently lives in Washington. Khan runs the International Centre for Peace and Democracy in Toronto, while Sering heads the Institute of Gilgit-Baltistan Studies in Washington. Taking a dig at Pakistan, Khan said the country never wanted to resolve the issue.

“The control of so-called Azad Kashmir lies in the hands of the Kashmir Council run by Pakistan. The Muzaffarabad assembly has been rendered useless,” he said. “At least we hear some news from the Indian side of Kashmir, but from our side there is complete blackout. PoK has been turned into a cantonment and nobody can escape from the eyes of the security agencies.”

Sering argued that Pakistan can do nothing for Gilgit-Baltistan as constitutionally it is not a part of the country. “It just exploits our resources and wants to continue with its political hegemony,” he said.

Speaking about Chinese intervention in the region, Khan said: “Chinese companies are doing a lot of work in Pakistan-administered Kashmir (PaK). It needs to be taken seriously as it has its impact on the changing power politics in the region.”

As for development indicators, the Northern Areas have no university or professional colleges. Adult literacy is 14% for males and 3.5% for women. There have been widespread resentment and protests against the Pakistani establishment in the region over the years, which have evinced little interest in India so far.

New Delhi has chosen to remain a silent spectator to these atrocities and protests.

The people of PoK are thus justifiably frustrated with New Delhi’s stance. The activists want New Delhi to insist on Pakistan to resume traffic and trade across the Line of Control to benefit the people of Gilgit-Baltistan. They also want reservation of seats in Indian higher education institutions such as IITs and IIMs.
Even the migrants from PoK, mostly Hindus, who shifted to India post-partition and the Pakistan sponsored tribal attack, have no political status in India including J&K. India has not bothered to even fill the seats reserved for PoK in the J&K Assembly.

“India needs to be more proactive and practical rather than confining itself to issuing statements,” says Sering.

And to begin with, the Indian media can start reporting events from PoK and Northern Areas at least on the nation pages, if not the front page.

The writer is a senior journalist based in New Delhi