GILGIT-BALTISTAN

May 7, 2020

The External Affairs Ministry of India issued a “strong protest” over an order by the Pakistan Supreme Court allowing the Pakistan’s Government to hold elections in the region of Gilgit-Baltistan of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK).

About:

Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) was formerly known as the Northern Areas.
It is an integral part of the Indian Union Territory of Ladakh but is currently under Pakistani occupation.
Gilgit Baltistan has been under the control of Pakistan since April 1949, when the leadership of the so-called Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) was forced to sign away this territory to Pakistan.
However, the region does not have any place in the constitutional framework of Pakistan and has been kept under the tight control of the central government. The region functioned as a “provincial autonomous region” since 2009.
Gilgit-Baltistan shares a border with Azad Kashmir, together with which it is referred to by the United Nations as "Pakistan administered Kashmir".
Pakistan in recent months had taken a series of steps to ensure full constitutional and legal guarantees to the region which was strategically important for the country especially in view of the passage of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) through the region.