Window to Gilgit-Baltistan

By  Syed Shamsuddin Saving Woodlands, Groves, and Forests of Gilgit-Baltistan—The First and Most Crucial Step in Climate Resilience Climate change is no longer a distant or abstract threat for Gilgit-Baltistan (GB). As Rosham Din Diamiri rightly points out, global warming may be a worldwide crisis, but its effects are disproportionately severe for high-mountain regions like GB—home to fragile ecosystems, dense glacier systems, climate-sensitive valleys, and a population deeply dependent on natural resources for survival. Yet one core problem repeatedly undermines all climate adaptation efforts: the rapid depletion of the region’s woodlands, groves, and forests —a crisis driven primarily by the lack of accessible and affordable alternate energy resources. If this foundational issue is not addressed first, all other climate strategies will remain incomplete, and even ineffective. Why Gilgit-Baltistan Stands at the Frontline of Climat...

By  Syed Shamsuddin THE LAUNCH OF the new, upgraded website of the Gilgit-Baltistan Service Tribunal marks a transformative step in addressing one of the most persistent concerns of litigants and their lawyers— the problem of prolonged, and often inordinate, delays in the adjudication of service matters. For years, many petitioners have faced uncertainty, repeated visits to offices, and lack of access to reliable information regarding the status of their appeals. The frustration has been especially acute in cases that have remained unresolved for a decade or more. Among the longstanding matters are the appeals filed by teachers from the Education Departments of Skardu, Gilgit, and other districts. These petitioners maintain that they met all requisite professional qualifications, yet were subsequently removed from service on the basis of alleged irregularities in the recruitment criteria. Their appeals have remained unresolved for m...

By  Syed Shamsuddin Harnessing Botanical Expertise for a Resilient Future: How Scholars like Professor Dr. Sher Wali Khan Can Guide Gilgit-Baltistan Toward Drought-Resistant Landscapes Gilgit-Baltistan—an awe-inspiring land of towering peaks, glaciers, wind-swept plateaus, and deep valleys—is also a region marked by harsh climatic realities. With arid conditions, erratic precipitation, fragile soils, and rising temperatures driven by climate change, its vast stretches of barren and undulating land remain vulnerable to erosion, degradation, and ecological decline. The urgent need to rehabilitate these landscapes through drought-resistant and ecologically suitable plant species has never been more pronounced. In this context, erudite scholars like Professor Dr. Sher Wali Khan , Chairman of the Department of Plant Sciences at Karakoram International University (KIU), emerge as invaluable assets. His recent international recognition...

By  Syed Shamsuddin Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) stands at the climatic frontline of Pakistan. Often described as the country’s environmental barometer or North Pole , this mountainous region hosts the world’s largest concentration of glaciers outside the polar zones. These glaciers feed the Indus River system that sustains Pakistan’s agriculture, hydropower, and drinking-water needs. Simply put, the survival of Pakistan’s water economy hinges on the ecological stability of Gilgit-Baltistan . Yet, year after year, GB faces an energy crisis of such magnitude that its people have little choice but to cut down trees to survive harsh winters. Firewood remains the default fuel not because people prefer it, but because clean energy is either unavailable or unaffordable . This has pushed GB’s already fragile forests to the brink of survival. Deforestation here is not a local problem—it is a national emergency. And that is where Islamabad must st...

By  Syed Shamsuddin In an age that celebrates rapid advancement—artificial intelligence, global connectivity, digital literacy, and unprecedented access to knowledge—it has become commonplace to equate education with progress. Nations flaunt enrollment statistics, literacy rates, and numbers of graduates as indicators of development. Parents invest heavily in private schooling, coaching academies, and foreign degrees. Governments race to build educational institutions and produce “skilled human capital” to feed an increasingly competitive economy. Yet beneath this glittering narrative lies a troubling paradox: we may be mass-producing a generation of individuals who are educated in the technical sense, yet deeply deprived of empathy, ethics, and human values. Such an imbalance does not herald progress; it risks ushering in a form of societal chaos where intellectual advancement coexists with moral decay. The crux of the issue is si...

By  Syed Shamsuddin Earlier this year, I published an article titled "Paulownia: The Miracle Tree – Fast-Growing, Fire-Resistant, and Highly Valuable" on March 03, 2025 . Today, however, an interesting Facebook post reignited my interest in highlighting this remarkable species once again, given its multiple environmental, economic, and agricultural benefits. Gilgit-Baltistan, a region blessed with breathtaking landscapes, rivers, and fertile valleys, is witnessing a pressing environmental challenge: the widespread planting of Eucalyptus (Safeda). While often seen as a fast-growing timber tree, Eucalyptus has severe ecological drawbacks—it depletes underground water, exhausts soil fertility, and leaves land barren. A better, sustainable alternative exists: Paulownia, also known as the Empress Tree or Royal Chestnut . Already popular in Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Kashmir, and other regions of Pakistan, Paulownia offers economi...

By  Syed Shamsuddin HIGH in the Karakoram and Himalayan ranges lies Pakistan’s greatest natural asset: the glaciers of Gilgit-Baltistan. Often called the country’s “North Pole,” these ice giants feed the Indus River, regulate water flows, and sustain the agriculture, power generation, and drinking water supply of more than 240 million people. They are Pakistan’s life-support system. Yet today, this critical region stands at the frontline of converging dangers. Leading U.S. climate scientists warn that by 2050 Pakistan will face intensified floods, extended droughts, rising temperatures, and climate-driven economic instability—what experts describe as “climate chaos.” At the same time, new geological research finds that the Indian Plate is splitting deep beneath the Himalayas , adding seismic complexity to an already precarious environment. These twin threats—rapid climate change and hidden tectonic instability—cast a shadow far large...

By  Syed Shamsuddin At the heart of the saying — “Don’t act as if you were going to live ten thousand years. Death hangs over you. While you live, while it is in your power, be good.” — lies an urgent philosophical truth: life’s brevity is not a burden; it is a summons to moral excellence. Human beings often drift through life under the comforting illusion that time is abundant, renewable, and obedient to our wishes. We postpone kindness, delay reconciliation, suppress generosity, and defer meaningful work for “some other day.” But the reminder that “death hangs over you” gently punctures this illusion. It is not meant to darken the spirit, but to illuminate the mind. Paradoxically, it is this very forgetfulness of life’s shortness that nurtures arrogance in some individuals. A number of people, once they acquire a measure of wealth or secure a higher, lucrative position, undergo a striking transformation. Their behavior hardens; hu...

By  Syed Shamsuddin Shabbir Ahmad Dogar’s recent write-up (November 16, 2025) delivers a sobering truth: no effort to conserve Gilgit-Baltistan’s rapidly thinning forests will ever succeed unless local communities are first empowered with subsidized, reliable clean-energy alternatives. Forest bans, regulations, and awareness drives become futile when people face minus-degree winters with no option but to burn wood to survive. Dogar rightly stresses that any meaningful environmental policy must begin by removing the people’s dependency on firewood—before the situation crosses the point of no return. This warning comes at a time when climatologists forecast even more severe and unpredictable weather patterns for G-B , patterns that threaten not only local livelihoods but also Pakistan’s glacial treasure , which feeds the Indus River and sustains the entire nation’s water security. The stakes could not be higher. The Harsh Reality on ...

By  Syed Shamsuddin GILGIT-BALTISTAN (G-B), with its formidable mountains and deeply incised valleys, is a land of climatic extremes—unbearable heat during the peak of summer and bone-chilling cold in winter. For centuries, communities here coped with these hardships by building dwellings from stone, clay, and timber. These traditional structures, shaped by the natural environment, provided a degree of thermal balance that made life tolerable. But the story has changed drastically. Concrete Houses, Climatic Hardship Over time, the triple forces of climate change, population growth, and land scarcity have transformed how people build their homes. With only one percent of the region under cultivation and barely another one percent habitable without mechanical intervention , families have been compelled to build compact, vertical concrete structures on whatever land is available. These cement-and-iron boxes may be efficient in terms...