K2, Gilgit-Baltistan's only weekly carries the following on it's mast-head: 'Sarzamin-Be-Ain Ki Awaz' (the voice of the constitution-less). One of the biggest obstacles faced by the people of Gilgit-Baltistan has been the systematic campaign of terror and discrimination waged against the region's Shia population. Shias who comprised over 75% of the original inhabitants of the land now risk being outnumbered due to the continuous settling of non-locals (mostly Punjabis) in the region, who now make up almost 40% of the territories' population.
Journalist Sriram Chaulia has noted how expropriation of land and residence rights of natives in *** stands in sharp contrast to strictly adhered provisions in the Indian constitution disallowing non-Kashmiris to acquire property in J&K. Far from a ‘special status’ that India’s Article 370 grants to J&K, Northern Areas of *** lack any constitutional status whatsoever.
According to an Aug 3, 2001 report in the Times of India, Abdul Hamid Khan, chairman of BNF, called upon the United Nations and the International Court of Justice to book Musharraf and other Pakistani generals as "war criminals for the genocide" carried out by them in the "Northern Areas". In his letter to the UN (a copy of which was also sent to Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee), the BNF leader noted that the Pakistani government and particularly its military were settling their own armed citizens and Afghan and other terrorists besides increasing the presence of "their notorious intelligence agencies (i.e. the ISI) in Balwaristan to turn the indigenous people into a minority. Comparing Gen. Musharraf to former military ruler Gen. Zia who had played a heinous role in 1988 and 1999 by launching a "genocide campaign" against the innocent indigenous people, he further asserted that more than 900 youth had been killed, 1,000 had became disabled or wounded, while 40 were still missing and several civilian buildings were destroyed due to Pakistan sponsored terrorist activities. Abdul Hamid Khan also stated that political and human rights activities were completely denied by Pakistan as a result of which more than 100 politically active people were facing sedition cases and "no impartial judicial system existed in Balawaristan."
The situation in "Azad Kashmir" is only marginally better. Even as Pakistan's military readers keep up the sham of championing "self determination" for Indian Kashmir, for "Azad Kashmir" i.e. ***, self determination, (as inscribed in the constitution), relates only to the unconditional accession of Jammu and Kashmir to Pakistan. Part 2 of Section 7 of the *** Constitution states: "No person or political party in Azad Jammu and Kashmir shall be permitted to propagate against, or take part in activities prejudicial or detrimental to, the ideology of the State’s accession to Pakistan".
