Amid tension in India-Pakistan ties following the Pathankot terror attack, Pakistan is working on raising the constitutional
status of Gilgit-Baltistan — which is a part of Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir — to address China’s concerns
over the $46-billion economic corridor through the strategic region.
The reported proposal to include Gilgit-Baltistan for the first time in Pakistan’s Constitution would bring the disputed area a step closer to being fully absorbed as an additional province of Pakistan.
The move reportedly comes on the insistence of China which has voiced
concern over constructing
the mega China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) that would pass through the disputed Gilgit-Baltistan region.
External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj in June 2015, had termed the CPEC project “unacceptable” as it was passing through POK.
The CPEC plans to link China’s Kashgar city in Xinjiang province to the Pakistani port of Gwadar on the Arabian Sea.
In the Gilgit-Baltistan segment, the CPEC project design is set to include a major expansion of the Karakoram Highway, establishing industrial parks in special economic zones, constructing hydropower projects, railway line and road building. The project also entails building hydropower projects and motorways and highways in what Pakistan calls Azad Jammu & Kashmir (AJK).
Besides being named in the Constitution, Gilgit-Baltistan is set to send two lawmakers to sit in the Pakistan Parliament — though they would be given observer status, according to reports.
In June last year, India had slammed the proposed election in Gilgit-Baltistan, terming it as an attempt by Islamabad “to camouflage its forcible and illegal occupation of the regions” and to deny its people their political rights.
Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Vikas Swarup had in a statement, said, “India’s position is well known. The entire State of Jammu & Kashmir, which includes the regions of Gilgit and Baltistan, is an integral part of India.”
India had termed the June 8 election in Gilgit and Baltistan “under the so-called ‘Gilgit Baltistan Empowerment and Self Government Order’ as an attempt by Pakistan to camouflage its forcible and illegal occupation of the regions”.
Absorbing the area into the Pakistan constitution could have far-reaching consequences, including increased friction with India.
Kashmiri leaders have also expressed concern over the moves to convert Gilgit-Baltistan into the fifth province of Pakistan.