Gilgit-Baltistan, one of the most troubled regions with decades of internal strife is once again passing through troubled waters, with residents of the region requesting the Indian government to send food via India’s Rajouri and Jammu due to crippling food shortage in the region amidst the Coronavirus outbreak.
Pakistan has reduced Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK) and Gilgit-Baltistan into a dumping ground forcing Coronavirus positive patients into PoK and Gilgit-Baltistan. Both PoK and Gilgit-Baltistan are already suffering under the scourge of a complete breakdown of the already fragile medical infrastructure in the two regions.
The Imran Khan government first reduced PoK and Gilgit-Baltistan into a superficial COVID-19 hotspot, and now the Pakistan government has also failed to keep food prices in check.
Earlier, a bag of 20 kilograms of flour used to cost 700 Pakistani Rupees, but now the prices of this staple foodgrain in the region cost 1200 Pakistani Rupees.
Profiteering out of PoK and Gilgit-Baltistan’s misery, the flour mills in Pakistan’s Punjab province are retailing flour bags at extraordinary rates which are furthering compounding the troubles of the people in this region of Pakistan.
Pakistan occupies this territory which legitimately vests in the Union of India, and the Imran Khan government is acting just like an irresponsible occupier. The local government meanwhile seems troubled with lack of any financial support and medical infrastructure, coupled with the extraordinary burden being put by Pakistan’s overbearing Punjab province.
The “Chief Minister” of Gilgit-Baltistan Hafiz Hafeezur Rehman has come down heavily on the Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan for not providing sufficient financial and technical aid to the local government to deal with the Coronavirus outbreak.
The Gilgit-Baltistan Chief Minister has demanded a sum of Rs 1.75 billion from the Pakistan government to combat the Wuhan virus outbreak.
This region that borders the Xinjiang province of China has already witnessed 234 Chinese virus cases along with three deaths, but the Pakistan government has not made any effort to tackle the outbreak in the region rather it has further burdened the province with crisis profiteering.
The Gilgit-Baltistan Pakistan People’s Party President, Amjad Hussain had also cracked down on the Imran Khan government for aid worth diverting 2.5 billion Pakistani Rupees that was supposed to help Gilgit-Baltistan cope with the public health emergency.
Pakistan’s Coronavirus response has been below par from the very starting. Pakistan had delayed sealing its borders with China and Iran- both countries that have been severely afflicted with the Coronavirus outbreak. This had led to a sudden spike in the number of cases in the Islamic Republic, a majority of which were transferred towards PoK and Gilgit-Baltistan.
Pakistan’s economy that was already in free fall has been further crippled with the Coronavirus outbreak, following which Imran Khan desperately begged for a debt-waiver.
In fact, the Islamic Republic of Pakistan has been entirely callous in its approach to combat Coronavirus. Leaving the problem to Allah, Pakistan has thrown in the towel before even trying. It is a strategy that cannot fail, because to fail, one must try.
With its economy in disarray, Pakistan has been ruthlessly prioritising on lines of its status as a Punjabi-dominated, Islamist country. Initially, the rogue State starved Pakistani Hindus. Most of the Hindus leaving in Pakistan are destitute and vagabonds and they are the worst-hit because the Imran Khan government is purposely denying food and other essential supplies to the Hindu minorities.
And now Pakistan is following the same policy with Gilgit-Baltistan and PoK by starving the region with lack of food supplies. Pakistan has certainly crossed the line by starving Gilgit-Baltistan, and now India must escalate this as a major human rights issue. India has significant stake involved in the region that forms a part of India’s legitimate territory and is illegally occupied by the Islamic Republic.