Window to Gilgit-Baltistan

By  Syed Shamsuddin   HAVING COME ACROSS a very interesting, highly inspiring and admirable summation from Ghulamuddin,  encompassing the subject matter, which appeared on 21 st   February, i.e on the occasion of ‘International Day for Protection of Mother Languages, this scribe couldn’t help dilate upon and re-emphasize the centrality of the issue insofar as Gilgit-Baltistan is concerned. It is to be seen that there are six languages and dialects spoken across Gilgit-Baltistan which are all, on the wane and as such, are threatened of going extinct. Prima facie, getting to the top of them is ‘Domaki’ which. indeed, gets singled out as the most threatened for its being on the verge of fading out. As getting unfolded from the United Nations Educational, Scientific & Cultural Organization (UNESCO), 7097 languages are spoken around the globe out of which, almost half are feared to go wholly extinct towards the close of the present century. The chief reason for...

By  Syed Shamsuddin   By Syed Shamsuddin A flurry of activity in terms of determination of the constitutional status of Gilgit-Baltistan, obviously in consonance with the region’s correct historical perspective, has this time around gathered momentum with the ‘All Parliamentary Parties’ demonstrably being on the same page, as  reported by a leading regional Urdu daily the other day. It is noteworthy that there has been a persistent anxiety among the region’s people over the way Gilgit-Baltistan has been ruled from day one; they are constantly being kept deprived of constitutional dispensation for the last seventy two years by subjecting the people to an amorphous system of governance which has by now morphed into a unconstitutional province sui generis. Mired in a strange situation, and caught in a maelstrom, the process underway has, over time, added only to disillusionment and discontentment ad nausea. Much has so far been written on the need for earliest resol...