Column: Pakistan continues to violate UN resolutions.
By Senge H. Sering
WASHINGTON, DC: The month of May this year brought joy to many hearts as millions of Pakistanis thronged the streets to cast their vote and chose their congress members and the Prime Minister. In September, they will get another opportunity to choose a president after Mr. Asif Zardari ends his term.
However, the two million residents of the UN-declared disputed region of Gilgit-Baltistan will be watching as bystanders after failing to join their Pakistani fellows during such electoral exercises. Ruled by Pakistan like a colony since 1948, the people of Gilgit-Baltistan continue to live without their basic rights including the right to choose a political future.
The United Nations Security Council has passed several resolutions asking Pakistani rulers to vacate Gilgit-Baltistan and return authority to its residents so political autonomy could be restored. While honoring the UN resolutions and granting genuine autonomy to Gilgit-Baltistan could empower the people and local economy; it also strengthens the rule of law and helps Pakistan project stability across the region.
However, Pakistan continues to violate UN resolutions, which has complicated the neighborly relations with Afghanistan and India and deepened strategic insecurity in South and Central Asia. Although the Universal Declaration of the Human Rights underlines that all governments have a responsibility to protect honor, assets and lives of their citizens, but the fact remains that the residents of Gilgit-Baltistan are a country-less people. Both India, which claims the region, and Pakistan, which physically controls it, have refused to grant constitutional rights to the citizens of Gilgit-Baltistan and kept the region in a perpetual limbo.
Losing hope with both Pakistan and India, many political groups of Gilgit-Baltistan are now looking towards the UNO and USA for diplomatic help. USA has long established itself as a leader in supporting democracy and the protection of human rights across the globe. America’s commitment to advancing human rights is about helping others but also about ensuring its national security.
Many experts believe that promoting human rights in Gilgit-Baltistan also ensures US national interests since the region is fast becoming the hub of terrorists, which threatens peace, stability and regional commerce.
Recently, terrorists attacked foreign tourists near Gilgit and killed ten Europeans and Chinese mountaineers who were preparing to scale Mt. Nanga Parbat. Such attacks have become a routine as law enforcement agencies have willfully neglected the need to maintain order and prosecute the culprits. The terrorist intend to strangulate the region economically and culturally to promote religious extremism. While the terrorists are primarily involved in Shia and minority killings and suppression of religious freedom; they also intend to convert Gilgit-Baltistan into a sanctuary for infiltration in Afghanistan and Kashmir.
However, the following statement of Secretary of State, John Kerry, builds hope among the state-less people of Gilgit-Baltistan, when he reiterated US commitment towards the marginalized nations:
“So anywhere that human rights are under threat, the United States will proudly stand up, and continue to promote greater freedom, greater openness, and greater opportunity for all people. And that means speaking up when those rights are imperiled. It means providing support and training to those who are risking their lives every day so that their children can enjoy more freedom. It means engaging governments at the highest levels and pushing them to live up to their obligations to do right by their people. It means encouraging businesses to respect human rights wherever they operate. I’ve also seen firsthand what can happen when we work together and encourage change for the better, that amazing spark that grows into a shining light – a spotlight, if you will, on hope and progress.”
The people of Gilgit Baltistan wonder if the US government will help them gain the desired political change so their children can attain the same freedom which the children of Iraq, Eritrea, South Sudan, Bosnia, Kosovo, Azerbaijan and Central Asian Republics enjoy today.
(The writer is the president of the Institute for Gilgit Baltistan Studies in Washington D.C.)
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