Mainstreaming Gilgit-Baltistan

The ongoing discussions about the political mainstreaming of Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) has captured media attention across the country. Bringing GB under the constitutional ambit of Pakistan as its fifth province is not a simple political choice to make without decoupling this region from the Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) dispute.

There are two diametrically opposed perspectives regarding the political status of GB vis-a-vis the J&K dispute. Both of these perspectives are rooted in the contested interpretations of historical events which unfolded during and in the aftermath of the partition of the Subcontinent in 1947.

The popular perspective in GB about its political status is that of a liberated region with no association to the J&K dispute. The people of GB think that their forefathers liberated this 28,000 sq miles of area from the state of J&K on their own by defeating the occupation forces on Nov 1, 1947. They think that J&K was an artificially created princely state of the colonial era in the post Anglo-Sikh war of 1846 as an extension of British rule. The princely state of J&K was a proxy state to protect the political interests of British colonializes in the era of the Great Game. Rooted in the cultural traditions of High Asia, the people of GB think that their ethnic origins are different from the people of J&K who they think were foreign invaders.

But there is another perspective too which has been internationalized because of the claims of both India and Pakistan over this region as an integral part of their territory in the larger context of J&K dispute. The Dogra kings of J&K laid claim to GB (in addition to Kashmir) on the grounds that these areas were once under the control of the Sikh rulers, whom the British defeated and thereafter sold this territory to Gulab Singh in March 1846. Under the Amritsar Treaty, Gulab Singh accepted the supremacy of the British, who in turn allowed him to take possession of the mountainous territory eastward of the Indus River and westward of the Ravi. Even though Gulab Singh and his descendants were declared kings of the state, the British continued to exercise greater control over it by deploying their political agents. Because of the perceived threat from Tsarist Russia’s southward movement at the time in its ‘Great Game’ rivalry with the British Empire, the latter tightened its control over Gilgit and strategic areas located near Afghanistan, China and Central Asia.

In 1913, the British established the Gilgit Scouts, a paramilitary force comprising trained locals but commanded by British officers. In 1935 when the clouds of the Second World War were hovering over the Indian subcontinent, the British leased Gilgit Wazarat from Hari Singh – the then Maharaja of J&K – for a period of 60 years. The leased territory became a frontier agency under the complete political control and administration of the British.

On June 3, 1947, the British government announced its plan to partition India. The subsequent Indian Independence Act, 1947, ended British suzerainty over the Indian princely states and terminated all treaties and agreements with them. Accordingly, the viceroy’s political department ended the lease of Gilgit Wazarat. However, in doing so, it retroceded the entire territory of J&K to the Maharaja, including those areas that were never really ruled by him or his predecessors. The Gilgit Scouts were also handed over to him. Naturally, the Maharaja became the legitimate ruler after this retrocession by British rulers. India, therefore, claims that Gilgit-Baltistan is its territory because the Maharaja signed the instrument of accession with India on October 26, 1947.

However, Gilgit agency and the Baltistan region became independent through a revolt against the Dogra ruler of J&K, triggered by the local military officers with support from Major William Brown, the British commandant of the Gilgit Scouts. The chronicles of the Gilgit revolt suggest that the British rulers – as part of the Great Game politics – did not want India to have direct geographical access to the USSR and Afghanistan. On November 1, 1947, the revolt leaders in Gilgit declared their independence from the Dogra Raj and subsequently expressed their will to join Pakistan.

Some historical accounts suggest that the haste with which accession to Pakistan was orchestrated by the revolt leaders was actually pushed by Major William Brown to preempt a possible Indian move of annexing the area. On November 4, 1947, Major Brown, ceremonially hoisted the Pakistan flag in the Scouts’ lines and in the third week of November a political agent from Pakistan was sent to take over the charge from the locals.

When British rule came to an end on August 14-15, 1947, Maharaja Hari Singh decided to retain the independence of his state for which he persuaded Pakistan to sign a standstill agreement with him while India did not sign under the pretext that it needed further discussion and wider consultation. Some political writers suggest that the doubts created by Indian delaying to sign the standstill might have prompted Pakistan to send in tribal militia to preempt Indian coercive accession of J&K. There is no doubt that later in 1948 India forcibly took over the princely states of Junagadh and Hyderabad Deccan in violation of Indian Independence Act 1947. From October 12 to 26, 1947 the tribal militia defeated the Maharaja army and captured some 4000 sq miles of the area which became Azad Jammu and Kashmir. Hari Singh fled to Jammu, where on October 26 he signed an instrument of accession with India as a revocable arrangement till the time peace was restored in his state.

UN Security Council Resolution 47 was adopted on April 21, 1948 in response to a complaint lodged by India concerning the dispute over J&K including GB. The resolution notes that both India and Pakistan desire that the question of the accession of the disputed territory should be decided through a free and impartial plebiscite. It was reiterated by India and Pakistan in the Simla Agreement of 1972 that all outstanding issues including the dispute of J&K will be resolved through peaceful means. The resolution guaranteed protection of all legal, political and economic rights of the people of disputed territory.

Through the Karachi Agreement, GB was brought under the direct administrative control of Pakistan till the resolution of J&K dispute. The enthusiasm with which people of GB acceded to Pakistan with the hope of a quid pro quo did not happen in 73 years. However, the decision of the government to mainstream GB by granting the overdue political and constitutional rights to its people is the right move. Let us hope it happens soon.

The writer is a social development and policy adviser, and a freelance columnist based in Islamabad.

Email: ahnihal@yahoo.com

Twitter: @AmirHussain76