Will never accept Pakistani involvement in our area: Gilgit-Baltistan locals to Imran Khan

Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Hasan Khan Niazi and Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir (PoK) Minister Ali Amin Gundapuri were surrounded by the residents of Gilgit-Baltistan during their visit to the region who shouted slogans like "We will never accept Pakistani involvement in our area".

Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Hasan Khan Niazi and Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir (PoK) Minister Ali Amin Gundapuri were surrounded by the residents of Gilgit-Baltistan during their visit to the region who shouted slogans like "We will never accept Pakistani involvement in our area". On November 1, Khan had announced the granting of provisional-provincial status to Gilgit-Baltistan despite the ongoing protests against the Pakistan government over its decision to change the status of Gilgit-Baltistan.

Following this decision, the residents of Gilgit-Baltistan have said that they will never accept Pakistan's involvement in their region. "We will never accept Pakistani involvement in our area. Get out from here," the locals said while surrounding the Pakistan PM and PoK Minister.

Gilgit-Baltistan residents are up in arms against Islamabad's decision to integrate the illegally occupied region with the rest of Pakistan. In the run-up to the assembly elections in this so-called autonomous region, Pakistan's Prime Minister Imran Khan recently announced that the region will become a provisional province of Pakistan--a declaration that has drawn massive condemnation.

Activists wonder how an occupying state which has no locus standi over the region can take a call of subsuming it with the rest of Pakistan. Earlier known as Northern Areas, Gilgit-Baltistan has been governed by the "Gilgit-Baltistan Empowerment and Self-Governance Order of 2009", which established an electoral framework. Elections have been held in the region under the order that provides for limited autonomy.

The people accuse Pakistan of systematically exploiting resources of the region and not sharing the dividends with them. Any resistance they say meets brutal government reprisal with activists and leaders hounded, arrested and tortured. (ANI)

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