A nation in search of peace
Unfortunately, Gilgit-Baltistan has been suffering from deprivation, slavery and natural calamities for long. Even in the holy month of Ramazan, the people in this region are deprived of peace and tranquility. The region remains wounded after the devastating rains and floods for the last over a month. In such a situation when the people were passing through a critical time of their life, some anti-nation and anti-social elements started to rub salt into their injuries by resorting to target killings to achieve their own nefarious objectives. These savages are habitual of taking leisure out of the sufferings of the innocent by fulfilling their savage and anti-human aims. The game of blood is not new in the region as it has been played off and on since the year 1985. The recent spate of fire has claimed four innocent lives in the city of Gilgit besides damaging public and private properties worth millions of rupees. Besides, the wave of brutality has also created fear in the minds of the people and traumatized them.The most shameful and tragic aspect of the situation is that the hollow democratic structure working in the region has surrendered to the handful of elements who are out to sabotage the peace and harmony in which the masses once lived in the region. Though the dummy chief minister of the region, Mr Mehdi Shah as usual seems to make tall claims but there has never been any serious effort to nib the evil in the bud. On the other hand, political and social circles in the region while demanding stern action against the anti-social elements to maintain law and order have held the police responsible for the disorder. But there are also people who are trying their best to save the responsible police officials from any legal action. This is another worrying factor which will always hinder efforts to maintain peace and order in the region. It is unfortunate that no one in the region has learnt lesson from the 63-year-long deprivation, slavery and injustices meted out to the people of the region. Nobody has learnt any lesion at least to respect the sanctity of the holy month of Ramazan and no one has ever done any serious work to promote peace and tranquility in the region and there is no one who worked for promotion of inter-communal harmony and brotherhood or to expose the anti-social elements and bring them to justice. Over 1,400 years back Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) had told the humanity that nations who lid their own shortcomings and injustices but caused harm and injustice on trivial mistakes to others always faced destruction and extinction. It is unfortunate that at this period of time, Gilgit-Baltistan seems to be facing a similar situation. The recent floods continued destroying everything in the region and if we stop for a moment and reflect it becomes clear that it was a big natural calamity. Hundreds of our brothers and sisters ended up in relief camps or were compelled into beggary and there seems no one, no government or other agency, to come to their rescue. It seems that Gilgit-Baltistan still lives in an age about 500 or so years in the past. It seems there is nothing like a government, administration or a civilization; people are divided into tribes and groups and are fighting for their own survival. There is no system of communication and the area is ruled under the law of the jungle. In such a situation, if there is someone working for the humanity they belonged to civil society organizations, though many of them are also fake.It is also a fact that with the passage of time, the region of Gilgit-Baltistan is fast becoming a hub of international politics. Already, the region houses a large number of Pakistani forces. Though the population of Gilgit-Baltistan is stated to be two million (it may be more), they have no say in the affairs of the local administration. And under a conspiracy, this population has been kept divided on the lines of sectarianism and ethnicity so that the locals cannot rise for their rights. It is time to reflect and ponder on our past and current mistakes and carelessness. We should stop for a while and think how long we will be falling victims to our own follies? Should we give our coming generation a bleeding society? Why should we not learn lesson from the civilizations and societies in the world that lost their existence and became of history only because of their follies? Why we don't understand that division, disunity, intolerance and injustices always caused destruction and annihilation to even huge civilizations? The small community of two million people in Gilgit-Baltistan has the potential to present itself as a cohesive, tolerant and peaceful society living in peace, harmony and brotherhood. Canada, situated in the polar region, can be presented as a country assimilating people of different colours, creed and originalities living in harmony and peace. When its non-Muslim ruling class demonstrates high degree of discipline and ensures co-existance for people coming from different backgrounds, why we the custodians of Islam's universal code of life have failed to demonstrate basic values of life for our own people.Though it is also a fact that our enemies have always worked hard to divide the local people so that they can never rise for their rights and the outsiders keep on plundering our God gifted resources but why we always fail to grasp the situation and fall prey to the conspiracies of others?It is time we understood and differentiated between our saviors and destroyers and forged unity to create awareness among the masses about the actual facts and fought for our rights as a nation instead of killing each other in the name of ethnicity and sectarianism. For this, each and everyone of us has to play their role because if the boat sinks it will sink taking all of us along.

(www.bangesahar.com)