Great game of one-upmanship knocks at India’s doors

A great game of one-upmanship is being played out in the backyard of India, just across its Kargil borders in the Gilgit-Baltistan region of Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir (PoK). Though there are no takers for claims of the presence of 10,000 Chinese army personnel, everybody here agrees that Beijing is involved in the region, building roads and infrastructure to connect their mainland with the Gwadar port in Baluchistan. But, of late, much to Pakistan’s chagrin, Americans are making forays in the region, ostensibly to counter China.

More so, worrisome for India is the sectarian clashes, hitherto, confined to Pakistan’s western borders, Baluchistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, reaching the region, just miles away from Kargil, which has identical demographic features. The targeted killings had reverberations in the Shia-dominated Kargil township in April, when it shut down to mourn the cold-blooded murders of their brethren across the borders.

While chief minister Mehdi Shah attempts to allay fears, his own finance minister Mohammad Ali Akhtar complains of a lack of powers to handle the situation. “I don’t have powers to change things,” he tells DNA.

The provincial officials also complain that whenever they try to arrest those fanning sectarian violence, one or the other security agency pressurises them to release these people.

Analysts in Islamabad told DNA that coupled with such insecurity, the involvement of great powers was a worrying factor.

Stressing that these issues need a serious thinking even from Indian side, leading commentator Ershad Mehmood cautions that it was just a matter of time, when the sectarian animosity and the one-upmanship battles travel across the LoC.

Pertinent in this regard was the five-day visit of a three member delegation from the US embassy in Islamabad to Gilgit-Baltistan in July last year. The Pakistan government did not take the visit kindly and described it as a “secret movement” of foreign missions in the country.

The US has in the past funded the Satapra dam project, which is located a few kilometres from Skardu (the capital of Baltistan), close to the borders of Kargil. While India has voiced opposition to the construction of  Bunji Dam with Chinese assistance in Astore district, it is still to react to the US forays in the region.

Analysts believe that newfound US interest and engagement in PoK have strong geopolitical underpinnings. While the Indian government has been raising hackles at the stapled visas issued by the Chinese to Jammu and Kashmir residents, the people of Gilgit-Baltistan can cross over to China without passport and visa just on a permit issued by local tehsildar. A daily bus from Gilgit Xinxiang city of Kasgar is an added feature to realise the deep engagement of China in the region.