Window to Gilgit-Baltistan

By  Syed Shams Uddin IN GILGIT-BALTISTAN’s history, 1st November is a momentous occasion to be truly jubilant about and celebrated with great solemnity and fervor as it marks the hard-won liberation of Gilgit-Baltistan from the oppressive Dogra rule after the it was forcibly occupied by the latter during the course of a tug of war spanning second of the 19 th  century. Fastidious in preparation for the big day on its eve, the people of the region enthusiastically and zestfully commemorate the liberation day every year to immortalize the victory of the regional people who emerged triumphant by undoing what the aliens had done to them. It is worth note that wresting such a vast territory from the clutches of the oppressive regime’s troops armed to the teeth is something easier said than done and hence can be termed no less than a miracle to engage a well-organized combatant force armed with deadly arsenal. It therefore, finds no precedent in the contemporary history ...

By Syed Shams Uddin THOUGH unofficial, President Dr Arif Alvi’s visit to Gilgit-Baltistan the other day assumes great significance insofar his categorical and unambiguous assurance to accelerate the process of giving constitutional rights to people of Gilgit-Baltitan is concerned. Indeed, the constitutional rights’ issue remains the core problem of this region hanging in balance for the last seven decades at a stretch which has been made subject to a dithering with broken promises and backtrackings. The president is now referred to as having said rather outspokenly that the constitutional rights’ issue which to the GBian is ‘the mother of all issues’, would be taken up as soon as he is back in Islamabad as reported by regional print media. He is also referred to have said that he will have a look at ‘Sartaj Aziz Committee’ report as well whilst asking the regional people to tell as to what setup they would really like. Viewed in this backdrop, the president’s visit though ...

By Syed Shams Uddin REGIONAL print media recently reported the holding of a grand seminar – perhaps first of its kind, specifically on quality of education and the crucial role of teachers’, at KIU which can truly be regarded as  very encouraging sign pointing towards and greatly instrumental in imparting efficacious teaching practices and pedagogic skills attuned to and in conformity with the changing times insofar as bringing about a qualitative transformation in public sector schools system in this region is concerned. Admittedly, a system perfectly consonant with the principle of preponderance and efficacy of public sector education –  the singular means or to put it, the mainstay of the overwhelming poor stratum of society, inevitably has to achieve de facto dominance over private sector in competitive terms when it comes to making quality education invariably available to the children of the poor for a positive socio-economic transformation in this era of cha...

By Syed Shams Uddin As appearing in social media on seventh October, contingent paid employees of G-B have threatened with a sit-in at Ghari Bagh Gilgit if their demands are not met by fifteenth October 2018. This reminds this scribe of the travails of two poor employees of MCC GB, and how they are literally caught in a maelstrom being continuously discriminated against and being in what may be called deep sh*t despite spending their prime youth in the service of the department by serving continuously and assiduously, working even without taking any vacation remain subject to great nonchalance and rather deliberate remiss whereby they are made subject to a long trail of injustice and discrimination. Being consigned to a limbo by turning them daily-wage-earners so callously without adjusting them horizontally against regular class-iv post retrospectively in an utter disregard to their fulfilling the then basic criteria at the time of preliminary induction in 1986 and 2004 w...

Dated: October 7, 2018  on Pamir Times Written By Syed Shams Uddin By Syed Shams Uddin PERCEPTIBLY THOUGH, a ‘post’ on public sector education in Gilgit-Baltistan emanating from and encountered on social media very recently made revelations, rather bluntly, about the messiness associated with the ongoing teaching practices in the public sector school system, pointing out therein, a litany of flaws concerning them exhibitive of a great nonchalance hindering any positive change. It referred to the system as having undergone preposterous stages overtime, thereby plaguing it in entirety almost to an irremediable extent viewed in terms of delivering quality education to the poor masses. Caustically criticizing, it tended to make public how the performance of government schools across GB remains subject to an alarming exacerbation and made an impassioned appeal to all the stakeholders to rise to the occasion and join the consistent struggle to get the department back on the rails...