In 1842, the Sikhs entered Gilgit at the request of an ousted Raja and that became the moment when an outside force was introduced to the region. The only obstacle in their way was the strong ruler of Yasin, Gohar Aman, who gave them crushing defeats several times. As long as Gohar Aman was alive, the Sikhs and Dogras did not dare to enter Gilgit and it was only after his death in 1860 when they entered.
In view of the Russian threat in 1876, the British appointed Lt. Col. John Biddulph as their agent in Gilgit. In 1889, Gilgit was made an agency and Colonel Algernon Durand was appointed as the first political agent. This was the time when the Russian representative, Captain Grombchcvsky, met the Mir of Hunza and that alarmed the British. As a result, in 1891, the Hunza-Nager expedition was launched and it led to the famous Anglo-Brusho war of 1891. After a fierce battle, both Hunza and Nager came under the suzerainty of the British. The political agent was made responsible for the states of Hunza, Nager and the political districts of Yasin, Ishkoman, Gupis and Punial.
In 1917, when the Bolshevik Revolution took place, the British decided to strengthen their hold on Gilgit. On March 20, 1935, they decided to take Gilgit Wazarat on lease from the Maharaja for 60 years and an agreement was signed. All territory to the west of river Indus was to be administered by the British political agent at Gilgit while the administration of Kashmir was confirmed to the area east of river Indus. This agreement remained intact until July of 1947 and on October 26 of the same year, the Maharaja announced the accession of Kashmir to India.
On the partition of the subcontinent, the British handed over all of Gilgit to the Maharaja—contrary to the wishes of the people of region. On the first of August 1947, the British political agent was replaced by a representative of the Kashmir durbar, Brigadier Ghansara Singh. The people of Gilgit did not welcome this decision neither their accession to India and decided to overthrow the governor. The Gilgit Scouts along with the Muslim forces of Jammu and Kashmir’s sixth infantry revolted against Dogra. On the night of October 31, 1947, the Gilgit Scouts surrounded the governor’s residence and on November 1, Brigadier Ghansara Singh surrendered. A regional government was established and the government of Pakistan was asked to take over control of the region.
Skardu was liberated exactly one year after Pakistan’s independence. It was remarkable that the people of Gilgit-Baltistan liberated their area without external help. On November 16, 1947, Sardar Muhammad Alam Khan took over the responsibilities of the first political agent of Gilgit. In April 28, 1949, Azad Jammu and Kashmir’s (AJK) government ceded the control of Gilgit-Baltistan to Pakistan according to the Karachi agreement. Through the resolution of the UNSC, both Azad Kashmir and the Northern Areas were included within the definition of Jammu and Kashmir. In 1999, the Supreme Court of Pakistan, in its landmark judgement, declared, “The people of the Northern Areas were citizens of Pakistan for all intents and purposes and could therefore invoke constitutionally guaranteed fundamental rights.”
Different governments in Islamabad introduced their administrative and legislative reforms in the region. In 2009, the region was named Gilgit-Baltistan and a province-like status was given. On August 17, 2015, the Gilgit-Baltistan assembly passed a unanimous resolution demanding that Gilgit-Baltistan should be given a status of a province of Pakistan. A committee under Sartaj Aziz was formed to recommend reforms for the region. In its recommendations, on March 16, 2017, the committee recommended a provisional province-like status by amending the constitution of Pakistan. Furthermore, it recommended representation in the parliament and the Indus River System Authority (ISRA), the National Economic Council (NEC) as well as the National Finance Committee (NFC). However, nothing happened. Instead, the government introduced the Government of Gilgit-Baltistan order in 2018.
There was a mixed response to the new order. On the direction of the Supreme Court of Pakistan, a new draft for the Gilgit-Baltistan Governance Reform Order of 2019 was submitted and then later approved. However, no progress was made on its implementation. On August 5, 2019, India scrapped article 370 and 35 A of its constitution which gave a special status to Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK). This was followed by a new political map in which Gilgit-Baltistan was shown as part of a newly created state of Ladakh. In September 2020, the government of Pakistan announced its intention to make Gilgit-Baltistan an interim province that had representation in the parliament. On November 1, 2020, Imran Khan announced that his government would give the provisional provincial status to the region. The government also issued a new political map on August 4, 2020, showing the entire state of Jammu and Kashmir, including Gilgit-Baltistan, as a disputed region awaiting settlement based on the UNSC resolution.
Imran Khan has already constituted a committee to finalise the process of granting the provisional provincial status of Gilgit-Baltistan. It will be responsible for preparing a report for giving a provisional provincial status for Gilgit-Baltistan while keeping in view the UNSC resolutions and Pakistan’s principal stand. On March 9, 2021, the Gilgit-Baltistan legislative assembly unanimously adopted a resolution to make the region an interim province of the country. The resolution stated that a bill to amend the constitution of Pakistan to declare Gilgit-Baltistan a province should be passed keeping in view Pakistan’s principal stand on Kashmir.
Last year COAS, General Qamar Javed Bajwa, also met and briefed the federal parliamentary leaders on the sensitivity of the issue from a security point of view. The opposition parties have agreed, in principle, to support the move to make Gilgit-Baltistan an interim province. The people of the region want their area to be merged into Pakistan and declared as a separate province. This action will have no negative effects on the Kashmir issue as it will be linked to the final settlement of the issue based on Pakistan’s principal stand. The people of Gilgit-Baltistan would continue to support their Kashmiri brothers politically and morally. It is hoped that the government of Imran Khan will steer Gilgit-Baltistan in the right direction. The identity of the people of Gilgit-Baltistan has been, is and will remain Pakistani.