Protests across Gilgit, PoK over Pakistan’s move to make Gilgit its fifth province

TIL Desk/World/Muzaffarabad-Protests erupted across Muzaffarabad on March 18th against Pakistan’s move to illegally make Gilgit Baltistan its 5th Province. Lawyers in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) and Gilgit are on strike over Pakistan’s move to make Gilgit-Baltistan region as its 5th Province and are also demanding amendment to the POK interim Constitution Act 1974.

They are saying that this is a dark move by the Pakistan Government to carve out Gilgit from the State of Jammu and Kashmir and to make its land available to the Chinese Government for the China Pakistan Economic Corridor. Pakistan’s move to make Gilgit its fifth province has triggered wide spread protests all across PoK and Gilgit as the people led by the lawyers are saying that Pakistan is selling off a part of Kashmir to China just like it gave the area of Aksai Chin to China.

In what may come as a matter of concern for India, Pakistan is planning to declare Gilgit-Baltistan region as its fifth province. The Gilgit-Baltistan area is Pakistan’s northernmost administrative territory that borders the disputed Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. A committee headed by Adviser to Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz recommended to grant the region a provincial status. Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Punjab, and Sindh are four provinces of Pakistan. However, India claims the Gilgit-Baltistan area as an integral part of its territory.