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Gilgit-Baltistan to be a full province: Pak. PM
Why is it in news?
- Prime Minister of Pakistan has declared that part of the contested Kashmir region will provisionally become a full province of Pakistan.
Details:
- Pakistan has administered the area now known as Gilgit-Baltistan since shortly after the country’s birth in 1947.
- But New Delhi asserts the mountainous territory bordering China and Afghanistan is an integral part of Kashmir.
- The move comes after New Delhi last year revoked the special status of Kashmir, upending a decades-long status quo and drawing strong condemnation from Islamabad.
- Any change in status would require a constitutional amendment. If finalised, it would make Gilgit-Baltistan Pakistan’s fifth province.
- Chinese role: China has spent years building infrastructure projects in Gilgit-Baltistan, home to an estimated 1.3 million people, including a long stretch of the Karakoram Highway, a key component to the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).
- India’s Response: India called Pakistan’s control over Gilgit Baltistan as ‘Illegal occupation’ and such move will bring material changes to a part of Indian territory.