A host of leaders of Pakistan, including Prime Minister Imran Khan, have projected that the situation of Covid-19 in J&K as dire and that the lack of internet is preventing people from getting the latest information on the pandemic. As such, the international community should intervene.

In reality, the situation is dire in the portion of Azad Jammu & Kashmir (AJK) and Gilgit Baltistan (GB).

Let’s start with broadband. Pakistan held a telecom spectrum auction in 2014 to introduce 3G and 4G technology in the country but excluded AJK/GB from it. Six years later, these areas still lack such services. A report in the Daily Times on April 27 said: ‘one can commiserate with the residents of AJK-GB who are still waiting to access something that has become a necessity. In this age of technology, AJK & GB is still deprived of basic internet 3G and 4G access.’ While there is no doubt that across the board broadband services will be restored in J&K, there is little hope of this happening in AJK/GB because they don’t even exist.

The first positive Covid case in Pakistan was detected on February 26 but the screening of samples began at a hospital in AJK only towards March-end. Even so, the single lab in the region in Muzaffarabad was able to conduct only 8-10 tests daily of those who reported to the health facility. There was no question of community testing. It is believed that the lack of testing accounts for the relatively low detection of positive cases.

Though the administration claimed that things were under control, the association of young doctors (YDA) and civil society activists have mocked official claims and accused the government of not tackling the situation seriously. In a press conference, they said no one was paying heed to the safety of doctors and paramedics who were most vulnerable in the prevailing situation. They had not been provided even with masks, let alone safety kits.

The AJK government, like that of Sindh, announced a three-week lockdown from March 23, going against Imran Khan’s decision not to declare a nationwide lockdown. However, despite the restrictions, the media reported that the ‘so-called prohibitions’ were being brazenly flouted right under the nose of the authorities in different parts of the state.

A month later, the AJK government allowed businesses to remain open from 8 am to 4 pm, and like in the case of Pakistan, also decided to permit prayers in mosques during Ramzan. Social distancing measures during such occasions were being flouted, which could potentially lead to a big spike in cases.

According to the World Food Programme, the situation of food security in AJK was grim due to avalanches earlier this year that led to a lot of food stocks being spoilt and people being stranded due to damaged roads. The pandemic and the lockdown has further aggravated the situation.

The scenario in GB was best revealed by CM Hafeezur Rehman when he admitted on March 27 that there was only one testing centre in the region, where merely 15 patients could be tested in 24 hours, and only nine ventilators were available.

GB had the highest number of coronavirus patients in the country proportionately. The surge in such cases was largely due to Pakistan sending over a 100 pilgrims, who had returned from Iran, without proper screening. According to The News, the number of confirmed cases in GB was roughly 30% of the total test sample, the highest in the region and foretelling an impending disaster.

On March 23, a young physician from Chilas, Osama Riaz, died of coronavirus, which he contracted while handling patients returning from Iran without protective equipment. Another medical staffer, Malik Ashtar, lost his life for the same reason. This led to the GB Chief Court taking notice on April 21 of the shortage of personal protective equipment (PPEs) for paramedics.

Even before the outbreak, the healthcare system in the region was grossly neglected. According to a 2015 study of the health sector in GB, ‘shortage of technical staff and lack of quality services is a key issue for the health department.’ It noted that there were 886 beds available in the region, with the bed-to-population ratio being 1:1354, much lower than the international standard. The doctor-population ratio was 1:4411, far less than the ratio in Punjab that was 1:2187. Due to the lack of proper facilities, patients had to undertake expensive travel to Pakistan for treatment. According to another report in 2017, written by a Skardu-based doctor, statistical evidence testified to the stark reality that healthcare in GB was in an appalling state.

At best, the hospitals in the area were post offices, referring the patients for treatment to hospitals in Pakistan.

The pandemic has exposed the true healthcare situation. They have seen through Pakistan’s game of talking about the pandemic situation in J&K to distract them from their own pathetic situation.

Gilgit-Baltistan (G-B), in proportion to population, has the highest number of Covid-19 cases in Pakistan. So far, 607 people have tested positive in a territory with less than one and half million people. Heroes like Dr. Osama Riaz and paramedic Malik Ashtar who unfortunately died while performing duties without virus protective kits have become a source to galvanize society. Locals blame the Pakistani authorities for committing criminal negligence by not transporting Dr. Osama to Islamabad to save his life. Dismal economic condition and lack of preparedness could lead to more deaths in coming weeks.

G-B is not a constitutional part of Pakistan and therefore survives on financial handouts from Islamabad. Locals including the Chief Minister, Hafiz Rehman, blames Islamabad for denying adequate funds to cope with the Covid-19 situation. Islamabad continues to reject provisions of protective gear with the excuse of fund shortage. Medical professionals are still not sure about the exact scope of positive cases as many people remain undetected due to faulty testing kits. Authorities warn that Islamic devotees returning from the Tablighi Jamaat congregation could stimulate local virus transmission.

Locals are yet to benefit from the medical aid which military helicopters collect from the Chinese officials at the Khunjerab Pass. There is only one testing centre for the entire territory with capacity to test 15 people per day. At this rate, existing patients in Nagar alone, which is one of ten districts of G-B, would take eighty days to complete the process. Some hotels now function as quarantine centres but accommodate a small portion of patients. For now, G-B has only 15 ventilators for over 400 urgent-care patients and most of these ventilators were bought by local private donations. Transporting patients to Islamabad is cumbersome and economically impractical for most among locals.

Naveed Murtaza, a local activist states that the people of District Hunza, which borders China, are protesting after failing to obtain stimulus fund. He said that videos have emerged of students of G-B sleeping on roadsides in Pakistan while waiting for government help. Local media reports ailing and starving prisoners and political activists protesting in different jails of G-B. “This is no way to thank G-B which provides for more than half of Pakistan’s water needs. Pakistan should take lead from other countries and immediately release political activists in these testing times”, says Naveed.

Pakistan and China are using the pandemic to deepen control over G-B and squeeze more resources. Pakistani rulers call G-B country’s lifeline since CPEC related multi-billion dollar projects would fail without Gilgit facilitating border link between Pakistan and China. In the name of assisting local administration during the pandemic, Pakistan is expanding military presence and subjugating a territory . Pakistan’s behaviour is compelling a large majority of locals to demand withdrawal of its troops and seek complete independence. In the past, Pakistan sought help from Chinese army to quell such dissent. In 2010, media reported on the presence of eleven thousand Chinese troops in the region as part of CPEC security apparatus.

Given the situation, people in GB feel apprehensive about Chinese staffs resuming work on CPEC projects. Mohammad Lateef, a concerned activist from Skardo opines that locals fear the corridor will carry the virus deeper into the valleys. “Locals see CPEC as an instrument of invasion which destroys environment, culture and social fabric without much benefit to the people. They fear China will force concessions from Pakistan by using CPEC as debt weapon”, says Lateef. The merger of Macao and Hong Kong have taught China techniques to seek concessions from weaker nations to expand the Han empire. Hidden behind the testimonies of camaraderie, China plans to buy out assets in GB, threatening freedoms, democratic values and national identities.

Sajjad Raja, a political leader from Azad Jammu Kashmir (AJK) accuses Pakistani military of moving Covid-19 patients to Mirpur. Many among locals think that Pakistan is risking lives of millions of AJK natives to siphon money from the Western aid agencies, says Raja. Another local leader, Amjad Ayub attests that many hotels in AJK were now crowded with Pakistani patients. “Authorities forced local Mirpuris out of buildings and hospitals to accommodate Pakistanis. Staffs and equipment at Mohi-uddin Hospital were now at disposal of Pakistani patients while locals; wait for medical facilities.

Jafar Ismail, a resident of Muzaffarabad says that Pakistani army continuously talks about Kashmir valley and its Corona patients to distract Pakistanis away from the dismal situation in AJK and G-B. Pakistan betrays the people of G-B and AJK. It has no will or capacity to fulfil demands of local Muslims yet pretends to care for the Muslims in Kashmir valley. He warns Pakistan was only interested in keeping Punjab safe and prosperous by filling coffers with earnings from AJK and G-B.

Hundreds of thousands of people have been gathering in Kharmang valleys after Jumma Prayers for the last 2 months regularly where the slogans of “Open Skardu Kargil Corridor” are echoing in the air. The protesters are asking the Govt to immediately open the Line of Control (LOC) with India and resume travel over the historical trade routes leading to Kargil, Drass, Khaltse and Nubra. This public demand is longstanding and consistent but have gained momentum once again after the opening of “Kartar Pur Border” for Sikhs community by Pakistan.

For last seven decades, the LOC has functioned like the Berlin Wall of Asia dividing the people of Gilgit Baltistan and Ladakh, who are otherwise linked through common history, civilization, geography, culture, religion, language and economy. The people of both regions term this division unnatural and demand resumption of trade and travel across the LOC. These trade routes, which open towards Ladakh and Kashmir, have sustained the livelihoods and culture of Gilgit Baltistan for centuries. Until 1948, the Baltis and Astories used these routes to access markets, and educational and health facilities in Srinagar, Shimla and New Delhi. The entire life of the people of Baltistan and Astore depended on these routes. In 1948, when India and Pakistan engaged in a war over Jammu & Kashmir, the corridors were closed down isolating Baltistan from the rest of the world. It was not until 1978, after a jeepable dirt road connected Baltistan with Gilgit, when the people of Baltistan started traveling by land again. For all those 30 years from 1948 to 1978, commodities were flown into Baltistan by air. Closure of these routes destroyed economy of Kharmang , Shigar ,Skardu ,Astore, Skardu Gangche districts and deeply affected the valleys of Kharmang, Gultari and Chorbat. Among the affected people are tens of thousands of refugees who desire to meet their loved ones and wait for India and Pakistan to end their war over Kashmir and enable free travel across LOC.

The slogan to resume travel and trade over Kargil-Skardu road was first raised in the early 1990s by Syed Haider Shah Rizvi Shaheed, the then leader of Baltistan Students Federation who organized rallies to garner support. He declared to lead a long march towards Kargil for which he was charged for sedition, detained, and tortured for several months in Chilas prison.

In 2005, Gilgit Baltistan United Movement incorporated this slogan as part of its manifesto. Nowadays these slogans have become very popular and even the federal political parties rely on such slogans to gain attention and sympathy of the masses.

The Ladakhi refugees hosted a rally to protest in front of the UNO office in Skardu on July 27th,2011. The next day, police arrested and detained the scribe in Gilgit jail for supporting the protest rally of Ladakhi refugees. The FIR No. 211/11 filed for treason under articles 123A, 124A and 153A against protesters.” to provoke the masses for resumption of travel on Kargil-Skardu corridor. The FIR proves that the demand of resumption of travel across the LOC is considered treason by the authorities. The FIR exposes anti-human and unjust policies of Pakistani rulers.

The march of thousands of people of Kharmang valley towards Kargil on 28th February, 2012 is approval of the viewpoint of the nationalists. Despite curfew restrictions and danger to life, honor and property, the protesters marched towards the LOC and even the military barricades could not stop their movement. The movement has intensified after the representatives of Shia and Sunni religious parties; Anjuman Imamia and Anjuman Ahlesunnat Waljamat, have endorsed the demands by incorporating into the charter of demands to the government of Pakistan.

In 2013, Syed Hyder Shah Rizvi started an organized “Open the Frontiers “movement in Baltistan along with Muhammad Sharif Kakar of UKPNP Baltistan chapter.

This remains the policy till date despite the fact that travel and trade from Khokhrapar in Sindh, Lahore in Punjab and five other transit points in Jammu & Kashmir continue between India and Pakistan with the approval of authorities. If travel to India from Lahore, Muzaffarabad and Khokhrapar is not a treason, then travel to Kargil and Leh from Gilgit Baltistan should be allowed. A ban on travel between Gilgit Baltistan and Ladakh continues despite the fact that freedom of travel and commercial activities are granted to every human according to the human rights charter of the UNO and Pakistan is signatory to that charter. The fact that Pakistan continues to discriminate between the people of Gilgit Baltistan and those living in Kashmir, Punjab and Sindh reminds one of the apartheid era. Free travel is the birth right of every resident of Gilgit Baltistan and they will not stop from demanding it.

The message is loud and clear that the people of Gilgit Baltistan and Ladakh cannot be kept separated any much longer. In the midst of the slogans of ‘Open Skardu Corridor’ rising in the air, it was informed that the nationalist hero, Babajan Hunzai, expressed solidarity with the protesters from the dungeons of Damas Jail of District Ghezer, where he has been kept since last eight years for demanding rights for the flood victims of Gilgit Baltistan.

This is the victory of the nationalist ideology that people like BabaJan and the scribe represent and many of them have sacrificed time, energy, physical and mental health and economic well being to promote this cause. Despite social boycotts, detentions and torture, the nationalists will continue to spread the message of truth and humanity among the natives of Gilgit and Baltistan.

PTI played dirty games with PML(N) and Nawaz Sharif?

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Today #ImranKhan congratulates Modi and invites him to work together for development in region but when Nawaz Sharif was seeking to work together with Modi for regional development, at that time this same Imran Khan raised slogans, “Who is Modi’s friend is a traitor”. So what it makes you now Mr Khan? And if this doesn’t make you a traitor then how could Nawaz Sharif be a traitor?

Is this not double standards? It has now become a regional routine to give such certificates to anyone just as BabaJan, Manzoor Pashteen, Asif Naji… are being awarded this title of traitor!

Thanks for joining me!

Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton