Three years of successful journey
By Dj mathal

Thank God Baang-e-Sahar as a weekly has completed its three years of continuous publication. The journey which it started as a monthly about 10 years back from the cosmopolitan city of Karachi is continuing irrespective of pressure, fear, intimidation and oppressive measures by the power that be. The vision and determination that the young student belonging to Yasen tehsil of Gilgit-Baltistan had in mind to rise and speak out against the injustices and deprivation enforced on the two million people of the region is inching towards the realization of the objectives and during these ten years no tactics have worked to suppress the will of the nascent publication. Our sincerity of mission and dedication to the cause of the region during these years has shown that we will continue the journey and cerate awareness among the masses of their basic rights, which have been denied to them, besides providing them a platform to express themselves against the injustices continuing for the last over six decades in the region. As the importance of the press has always played a key role for political movements around the world, we rightly consider Baang-e-Sahra to be catalyst of change in the socio-political and geographical spheres of our region.For the last many decades, the people of Gilgit-Baltistan have been looking towards Pakistan and India for the right of self-determination which they have been promised by the international community. But during this period, the residents of the region have seen all types of strong arm tactics and oppressive, illegal and unconstitutional measures being perpetrated on them without checks. They have also seen merciless plundering of their resources, violations of basic rights, killing of innocent people on the basis of religion and deprivation in all spheres of life. There is a long list of injustices, which the people of this region have gone through. Now the fourth generation is living in the fetters of slavery and ignorance, deprivation and there is no prospect that the situation will change in the near future. For the last over six decades, the people of Gilgit-Baltistan have been kept deprived of all their basic political, constitutional and human rights. Still, the tactics to keep the people chained and enslaved and hoodwink the international community through introduction of flimsy and dubious packages are continuing. Those who raise the slogans of self-determination are put to all types of oppression not only by outsiders but also by sons of the soil. The state subject rule has been trampled openly in order to bring outsiders to the area and settle them here aimed to change the very demography of the region and turn the indigenous people into a minority in their own land. The unity of the locals has been shattered by dividing them on sectarian and regional lines so that they cannot rise against the injustices and for their rights as a united nation. The right to freedom of expression has been snatched away and a carrot and stick policy is adopted to silence the media. Through a well hatched conspiracy, the area has been kept backward despite the fact that it is gifted with abundance of natural and human resources only to keep its people entangled in their economic woes. Besides, political and social freedom has been made a taboo as the people remain divided on sectarian lines. Today the youth are running from pillar to post in search of education and then employment. A situation has been created where the young generation ahs nothing to do but fall victim to drug addiction. In this situation, this newspaper presented itself as a beacon and refused to be cowed down before the forces of intimidation and injustice and kept the cause of the nation supreme. When we spoke the truth and refused to bow before the forces, we were declared 'anti-state and traitor'. When all their other tactics fail, they also tried offering us financial benefits. However, thank God we did not even thought of compromising on our stance and continued the war against all the injustices. Though we also understand and acknowledge our own limitations, still we have been playing our due role in creating awareness among the masses regarding their political, educational, literary, cultural and constitutional rights. It is also a fact well known to the people that their so-called political leaders have given nothing to them except promoting, on others' agenda, hatred among them. We are however determined as it has been our policy that we will continue discouraging discrimination and prejudices on the basis of religion, color, ethnicity and regionalism in the region.Our motto is peace and tranquility and we have no enemy except those who have been hindering the struggle for the freedom of the nation. It is also our commitment to continue our struggle through the pen to defend the interest of the motherland at all costs. We consider any deviation from our path a big sin and expect all members of society to work for the ultimate good of the nation irrespective of their religious, ethnic and political affiliations.Dear Readers, keeping the response and cooperation we have received from you during the last three years, the management of Baang-e-Sahar has decided to convert the publication from weekly to daily in order to keep the readers up to date and carry out more actively our role in information dissemination and opinion making process.We hope that our endeavor in this regard will also meet great success and we will be able to convey our message to the readers in a fast manner and achieve our objectives for the best interests of the people of the region.

(www.bangesahar.com)