In response to Hamid Mir
Hamid Mir, an anchor-cum-journalist, seems to be on the edge since the recent round of talks of giving provisional provincial status to the Gilgit-Baltistan region began. He has been firing tweets and articles, in Urdu and English (very badly translated, I must say), to try to convince the people of GB that they are making a mistake! He appears to be afraid of the fact that people of GB may finally be able to make their identity known as a political entity, separate from the Kashmir imbroglio!
Hamid Mir also appears to be jittered by the vocal calls from the citizens of Gilgit-Baltistan, demanding recognition, and asserting their existence as a political and historical reality! He seems to be uncomfortable with the people of GB looking at themselves as something more than a shadow of the Kashmir dispute!
His reactions are not surprising, because he is trying to propagate a particular narrative, under which the people of GB must, forever, remain subservient to the whims and wishes of the “leaders” in Muzaffarabad and Srinagar.
Why should anyone listen to the wishes, desires, dreams, and inspirations of the people of Gilgit-Baltistan? Why do they matter? All that matters is the Kashmir dispute and the ‘solidarity’ of the non-existent colonialist Dogra state!
Isn’t this a ramification of colonialist thoughts? Hamid Mir appears to be unable to grapple the reality that the people of GB are not subjects of the Dogra occupiers anymore!
He quotes the example of a “decision” by the AJK Supreme Court, which has claimed GB as its own territory! What role does AJK Supreme Court have in Gilgit-Baltistan? Does the AJK Supreme Court represent Gilgit-Baltistan? Does the AJK assembly represent Gilgit-Baltistan? Why are the bogus claims and rubbish decisions of AJK Supreme Court to be honored by the people of GB? Tomorrow, if the Supreme Court of India decides that GB is Indian territory, will it be binding on the people of GB? Does Hamid Mir know the ABC of representative democracy? I doubt it!
But Hamid Mir is not alone in this paranoia. Just today, Farooq Haider, Prime Minister of Azad Kashmir, claimed that his government ‘represents’ Gilgit-Baltistan also! He didn’t care to explain the grounds for his claim. He blurted his claim like an arrogant despot, just like a King claims a conquered territory!
It is an irony that while Farooq Haider needs to contest elections and gain votes to form his government in AJK, to be able to call himself the PM of AJK, he feels that the people of GB shouldn’t choose their leader! He, in his imaginary world, looks at himself as the king of Gilgit-Baltistan and his government as the government of Gilgit-Baltistan!
In other words, he appears to feel that we, the people of Gilgit-Baltistan, have no right to choose our leaders and assert our identity. His delusional self feels entitled enough to make that decision for us, like a monarch from the dark ages!
This patronizing, dehumanizing, attitude adds salt to the injury of the people of GB. And this is precisely why we should strongly and fervently struggle to assert our historical political identity, which goes way beyond our region’s colonization by the Britishers and their henchmen! Provisional provincial status may not be empowering enough, but it does recognize the separate identity of Gilgit-Baltistan!
People of GB must live in peace with the people of Kashmir because the regions are neighbors. But the identity of different entities of GB, and GB itself, cannot be held hostage anymore.
Farooq Haider and Hamid Mir do not speak for the people of GB.
