WASHINGTON: Claiming that Chinese personnel have assumed the de-facto control of the Gilgit-Baltistan region, a Washington-based think-tank told US lawmakers that the area would end up like Tibet and East Turkestan if China's unwarranted interventions are not challenged.
In its testimony before the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission of the US Congress, Institute for Gilgit Baltistan Studies called for demilitarisation of Gilgit-Baltistan, promotion of genuine autonomy and democracy, withdrawal of extremist elements, re-instatement of state subject rule and people to people contact between Ladakh and Gilgit-Baltistan.
"The US must persuade both India and Pakistan to open channels of economic and cultural activity between Ladakh and Gilgit-Baltistan and enable the UN to take increase its role in Gilgit-Baltistan to protect the rights of natives," said Senge Sering during a hearing by Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission on Indigenous People of Asia.
"The Institute believes that substantial decrease in Pakistani influence in Gilgit-Baltistan will allow promotion of indigenous cultures and help neutralise extremism and Arab tribal influences that have been forced upon the natives in the name of Islamic values," Sering said.
Sering, a native of Gilgit Baltistan, alleged that Pakistan and China's vested strategic and economic interests in Gilgit-Baltistan restrict the natives from benefiting from their own resources.
He said that Pakistan's unilateral decision to award mining licenses to the Chinese companies has endangered control of the natives over their land.
"Despite repeated local demands, Islamabad has failed to transfer legislative authority over trade and transit routes; and resource management to the indigenous political institutions, which limits access to revenue worth millions of dollars," he said.
Asserting that Gilgit-Baltistan was a disputed region, Sering alleged that it remains in tight control of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).
As of now, more than 180 activists remain behind bars for demanding political and religious rights and many face sedition charges for confronting Chinese and Pakistani companies, he said.
Sering alleged that ISI was using Gilgit-Baltistan as a hide out and launch pad for the extremist militants who actively support Pakistan's Talibanisation.