Window to Gilgit-Baltistan

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Paulownia Plantation: A Green Revolution for Gilgit-Baltistan

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...

Saving Pakistan’s North Pole: A National and Global Imperative

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...

When Mortality Unmasks Pride: A Call to Humility in a Short Life

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...

Safeguarding Gilgit-Baltistan: Clean Energy as the Only Path to Saving Our Forests

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 ...

Reimagining Housing in Gilgit-Baltistan: Harnessing the Earth to Beat Climate Extremes

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...

Education for Peace: Integrating Japan’s Character-Centered Model

By Syed Shamsuddin I. Significance of the Japanese Model: Building Character Before Academics Japan’s decision to eliminate academic entrance tests for young children marks a profound shift in how success is defined. Instead of viewing early childhood as a race for grades, Japan treats it as a period for shaping human character — the foundation upon which all intellectual and professional abilities later rest. 1. Prioritizing Social and Emotional Development Early education in Japan is intentionally non-academic . The emphasis is on: Empathy Self-control Cooperation Respect for others Responsibility Discipline and personal orderliness By focusing on emotional literacy and social behavior, children learn how to function in a community — a skill far more crucial than memorizing facts at an early age. 2. Manners and Discipline as a Cultural Value Japanese teachers believe that: Good manners create good citi...