Description :

Gilgit-Baltistan in Pakistan occupied Jammu Kashmir (PoJK) has been in tumult; the frozen heights of the Karakorams has become an arena for violent clashes. The region was annexed by Pakistan duringthe tumultuous era of 1947-48, when the erstwhile princely state of  and Kashmir acceded to India. This strategically located, resource-rich region is amongst the most impoverished regions in entire South Asia. The people of the region have, by and large, been deprived of any say in their governance. The unique culture and distinctive languages of the region has been under continuous threat from the rising influx of outsiders, facilitated in many cases with the connivance of Pakistani authorities. Constitutionally, an Indian territory, the region has become an arena for frequent protests by the impoverished population, which have occasionally turned violent. As most of the inhabitants of the region adhere to the Shiite school of thoughts, this discontent has acquired a distinctive sectarian undertone, as rest of Pakistan is Sunni-majority. Despite comprising over eighty per cent of the area of former princely state under Pakistani occupation, there has been a general ignorance about the region in the world at large, and India in particular.