Baloristan

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Gilgit Agency, the central administrative unit of Baloristan (Gilgit-Chitral) currently known as Northern Areas of Pakistan, was ruled by the Maharaja of Kashmir before November 1, 1947 for more than 106 years.

After a revolt of the local people against the Kashmiri regime, the area was liberated and Brigadier Ghansara Singh, the last Kashmiri governor in the provincial capital, Gilgit, was arrested. After running an independent government for 15 days the people of the Gilgit area joined Pakistan. In history books the area is also known as Baloristan or Dardistan. Prof Ahmed Hasan Dani in his book, History of Northern Areas of Pakistan (1994) writes that the area was collectively called Baloristan by Chinese and other Central Asian historians. The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) in a report on the status of the area gives a glimpse of the sentiments of the people who have been ruled by Pakistani government in most of the areas after the princely states were disintegrated in 1974. "For over 50 years, the Northern Areas in Pakistani-administered Kashmir have been administered by Pakistan although they are not legally part of it. This curious position arises from what the Pakistani government calls its unresolved dispute with India over the former princely state of Jammu and Kashmir."

It borders Pakistan's North-West Frontier to the west, Afghanistan and China to the north, Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir to the east, leading to the frozen wastes of the Siachen glacier. Baloristan is, therefore, as strategically important to Pakistan as it was to the British in the days of empire. The issue of its status appears even more anomalous because, at the time of independence, the princes whose separate principalities comprised the area, had indicated their willingness to join Pakistan. That their accession has never been accepted has been a great disappointment to the majority of the approximately 0.7 million inhabitants, who are 100% Muslims (Shia, Sunni and Ismailis).

[edit] References

• Ayub B. Awan. "Northern Areas: Constitutional Status", DAWN 4 October, 1985.
• Ahmed Hasan Dani. "Gilgit Scouts Win the Battle of Freedom". The Muslim 2 November 1984.
• "History of Northern Areas of Pakistan"
• Mir Abdul Aziz. "Northern Areas: A Case of Representation" The Muslim 8 April 1986
• Victoria Schofield. "Pakistan's Northern Areas dilemma" BBC 15 August 2001