As an ode to the beauty of region Karim Imamdar Hunzai has described the Northern Areas as the Jewel in the crown of Pakistan. He goes on to elucidate his description by profiling the natural beauty of the region which serves as the rendezvous of the three mighty ranges of mountains, Himalaya, Karakorum, and Hindukush and from where flows the mighty Indus River on course to join the Arabian sea through the plains of Punjab. Historically the region is known to be the epicenter of the Great Game played between the British and the Russian Empire during the nineteenth century and up to the beginning of the twentieth century to gain supremacy in Central Asia.

 The original great game culminated a long time ago but a revised version has been played in the beautiful but beleaguered region by the successive governments of Pakistan since the bifurcation of the sub continent in 1947. Under the garb of being a disputed territory the entire region has been denied a constitutional identity and has been subjugated for more than half a century now. In the lhe last Freedom of the World report published by the Freedom House in concert with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) the Northern Areas of Pakistan have been given a status of “Not Free” with the political score at a dismal six and the civil liberties score at an equally discouraging five. The silver lining is that the political score has improved by one point due to the end of military rule in Pakistan as well as the transformation of the Northern Areas Legislative Council into the Northern Areas Legislative Assembly (NALA) with modest legislative, fiscal and budgetary powers.

Slowly but surely, the veil is beginning to lift from the real motive behind Pakistan’s interest in the occupied territories of India. Notwithstanding protests lodged by the Indian government, deaf to the reservations expressed by the people of the so-called Azaad Kashmir and regardless of the dilution of its claim regarding Kashmir being a contentious region, Pakistan has gone ahead and announced a package for the “Northern Areas” that effectively severs any ties that the region might have had with Kashmir and paves the way for the region to be amalgamated into the federation of Pakistan as its fifth province.

It might have taken Pakistan six long decades to achieve this state of affairs but doubtless this is what it intended all along for this part of the occupied territory of India. Why else, did Pakistan keep and treat this part as distinct from POK? Here it bears remembering that the Northern Areas in fact form more than three quarters of the total area that Pakistan had forcibly and illegally occupied, while Azaad Kashmir actually got only one-fourth of the so-called liberated land, so much for Pakistan’s altruistic motives in helping Kashmir. The occupation of this area was only the beginning of the story. A considerable portion of the area was subsequently handed over to China, against all moral and ethical compunctions.

For six decades after that, the Northern Areas were treated as a colony, an area controlled by Pakistan sans the privileges enjoyed by other areas that are constituents of the federation. The disputed area have been transformed into a war zone with restrictions on free movement for citizens, rampant destruction of their socio-cultural identity and serious human rights violations.   The people are closely watched by different security agencies, foreigners and journalists are forbidden visits since access to media is totally denied.  Economically too it is one of the most poverty stricken areas of Pakistan, it does not have basic infrastructure like roads, power supply, sanitation and basic health care, it is devoid of universities, professional colleges and postgraduate facilities.  The locals are paid 25% to 35% less wages than those coming from mainland Pakistan, female literacy is dismally low, transport facilities are at best rudimentary and there is hardly one medical personnel for 6000 people. Interestingly as far as the terrorists being infiltrated into India are concerned, the Pakistani government is willing to send one qualified doctor with every batch crossing into India (numbering around 30) to protect them from the vagaries of the weather. This is a strong indication of where the priorities of the Pakistani government lie.

Pakistan claimed an affinity with this region on count of similarity of religion. However this claim was brutally exposed in 1988 when the erstwhile President of Pakistan Pervez Musharraf then a Brigadier conducted a pogrom against the Shia Muslims who formed the majority of the population residing in this region. The Pakistani army along with Sunni tribal irregulars made efforts at ethnically cleansing this area of Shias and when this was found to be insufficient people from the neighbouring NWF Province were settled in this area. The idea was to change the demographic profile of the area perhaps to ensure a favourable outcome should there be a plebiscite.

Notwithstanding the dire straits in which it has landed itself, the State of Pakistan is hell bent upon gaining complete control of the region even if it amounts to inflicting unspeakable atrocities through colonisation of the people whom they unfortunately control. If this is the manner in which a “Jewel in the Crown” is treated by a Nation then there is an urgent need to revisit the very concept of Nationhood. It is time for the international community to pay some attention to the plight of the people of the Northern Areas. The Government of Pakistani cannot be allowed to continuously exploit the region, it has to address their personal aspirations unequivocally and urgently in a manner that meets the aspirations of the people. If driven to the wall these hapless peoples will have no option but to pursue the path of violence and by so doing open yet another conflict zone in the region and the world will be staring in the face of yet another humanitarian crisis of unprecedented dimension.