Historical and Political Development of Gilgit-Baltistan: The Ancient Empires to current Political Development

Abstract

Gilgit Baltistan geographically lies at the extreme north of Pakistan and it has an area of around 72,496 km. The area is a rugged mountainous terrain with eminent mountain peaks, including K2 and Nanga Parbat, over 5 100 glaciers, numerous rivers, plateaus, deserts, lakes, valleys and plenty of natural resources. The historical and political history of the Gilgit Baltistan analysed in the research paper is that which emerged during the antiquity time up to today. It concentrates on how the region was affected by different ancient civilizations such as the China, Central Asia, the Arabs, the Mughals and local dynastic constructions. The history of Gilgit Baltistan was as follows the Megalith Builders, Dardic peoples, Scytho-Parthian, Kushan, and Huns peoples, plus medieval local dynasties, such as the Tarkhan of Gilgit, the Maqpoon of Skardu. The modern history of politics in the region began with the conquest of Sikhs and Dogras in 1840, and the setting up of Gilgit Agency in 1877 by the British against the Russian expansionist visions. This was put into contract in 1935 when the British leased the area to a period of 60 years. Control was restored to the Maharaja during the Second World War, but as part of the partition of India of 1947 Muslim elements of the Gilgit scouts with the aid of local chieftains and volunteers freed 28,000 sq miles of the Dogra rule on 1 November 1947 as part of Pakistan. However, it has been irresolvable to address the constitutionality of Gilgit Baltistan in 78 years working with a Karachi Agreement of 1949 as the local government surrendered to the federal government without direct representation and original conflict was frozen in the agreement. Later reforms were the Frontier Crimes Regulation, the Northern Areas Executive Council and the Gilgit Baltistan Empowerment and Self-Governance Order 2009 which sought to put in place political, judicial, and financial processes. These measures however, failed since they refused to give them a representation by the Pakistani National Assembly, senate, National frontier Commission and National Security Council. The Gilgit Baltistan Order of 2018 successfully centralized power on the Prime Minister, a step that created popular unrest. Though the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf government was to improve political and the constitutional problem, later in the years, there were no real changes which were possible, and measures like the Gilgit-Baltistan Assembly (Constitutional Status) Bill could not lead to the significant change.