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Divided we fall
By Dj Mathal
If the people of Gilgit-Baltistan get united by shunning all differences and prejudices what would be its outcome? This is a terse question but its answer is very long and heart-wrenching. When we sift through the history of Gilgit-Baltistan before the creation of Pakistan, we never find any incident of killing or for that matter an iota of hatred or discord among the people of different schools of thought and sects. This is despite the fact that the period before the partition of 1947 is generally called an era of slavery or subjugation. On the other hand, when we look at the very short history of 61 years after Pakistan came into being, we find that each and every part of the region is, unfortunately, bathed in the blood of innocent Sunnis and Shias. Though the Dogra Raj had nothing for the welfare of the masses, but one thing seems to be for sure that life was safe during that period. So in this sense, we can also say that the period of slavery in the Dogra Raj was better than today’s freedom.
It is also important to find out why the blessing of freedom has turned the beautiful land into a hell for its inhabitants. To answer this, we have to look around and study a number of factors which have been at work. The unfortunate land of Gilgit-Baltistan, which is a part of the disputed Jammu and Kashmir, has been under the administrative control of Pakistan while a major part of Kashmir is occupied by India.
The two countries have always been trying to beat one another in their political game and treating the people of this region inhumanly. The people of Gilgit-Baltistan have been the worst sufferers in this war of interests between the two countries and for the last over 60 years they have been treated like animals.
When two generations of the inhabitants passed away living their lives in miseries, the people of the region realized that the situation was getting even worse. As a result, a section of the population especially the educated and the moderate class started raising voice against the injustices and for attaining their political, constitutional and economic rights denied to them for the last over six decades.
This perturbed the power that be who started to subdue the rising popular voice by using various tactics including closing the doors of employment on the locals. When this tactic failed to achieve the results, the rulers started to hatch some horrible conspiracies aimed to pitch brother against brother on sectarian basis in order to divide the masses so that they cannot even think of a united struggle for their collective good. The aim was very clear: if the people of Gilgit-Baltistan got united and demanded their rights, it would be impossible for Pakistan to hold its grip on the region. It is the only reason sectarianism is being used as a political weapon against the people of this region and this has served the interests of the conspirators well. We can see that there have not been even a dozen of killing incidents in the past 100-year history of the region but within a period of about twenty years over one thousands innocent people lost their lives to the sectarian frenzy.
Identifying the perpetrators of all the sectarian killings and violence is not difficult. Suffice it to say that none of the culprits involved in the mayhem of 1988, the carnage of 1990 and the mind-boggling incidents of 2005 have been arrested and brought to justice despite the fact that a large number of army, paramilitary forces and hordes of secret service personnel are deployed in the region in the name of security. Even no probe commission was ordered into these incidents let alone arrest or expose the powers behind them.
If somebody say that foreign elements are involved in these gruesome incidents of killings then what would be the answer to the question that why this region is not faced with a Balochistan- or Waziristan-like situation? It is a fact that in areas where foreign elements are involved in creating disturbances, the Pakistan Army has always faced tough time to control the situation while in Gilgit-Baltistan the situation has always been the opposite. Here it has been seen that whenever the local people get united on any issue, soon a wave of killing and carnage visit the region.
Now the question arises that what would be the solution to the issue. First of all it should be noted that had we not lost the independence achieved by our forefathers in 1947 due to lack of political wisdom, today the situation would have been different. When a nation makes a mistake, its effects are felt by the coming generations for centuries. Now we see that the situation has changed to a great extent and we should also understand that the benefit of division on the basis of sectarianism goes to the occupiers. We also understand that the ball is now in the court of federalist parties: either the federalists prove their mettle by ending sectarianism and maintaining peace in the region or accept the philosophy of the nationalists and join hands with them. Today the educated class and the youth of the region consider the federalists and religious parties as responsible for all their woes because in the past the masses had always supported them but they failed to meet their expectations. Now it is time for all political, nationalist and religious parties to convene an international conference to devise a strategy for maintaining permanent peace in the region, because without guarantee from the world powers, durable peace cannot be expected of.
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