Kargil people protest against Shia genocide in Gilgit Baltistan
Kargil, April 9 (Scoop News) – The protesters under the banner of Awami Khidmat Gar Committee Kargil under the leadership of Councilor LAHDC Kargil Aga Syed Razvi Hardass today protested against the massacre of Shia Muslims in Gilgit Baltistan particularly in Chilas at the hands of ISI-sponsored Jihadi-sectarian outfits.
This may be noted that Kargil (in Indian administered Kashmir) and Gilgit-Baltistan (a Pakistan administered area) are adjacent to each other; both areas have majority Shia population.
Thousands of people in Kargil participated in the agitation and condemned human rights violations in Gilgit Baltistan, massacres of Shia Muslims by the Jihadi-Deobandi terrorists and appealed the Government of Pakistan and Government of Gilgit Baltistan to take strong actions against the terrorist camps in Chilas and elsewhere in Pakistan and to take action against the killers.
Video: People of Kargil under the banner of Awami Khidmatgar Committee Organised a grand protest against Chilas carnage in Pakistan administered Gilgit-Baltistan
Video: Massive protest in Kargil against Shia genocide in Gilgit Baltistan
While addressing to the gathering the speakers appealed the Government of India and Government of Pakistan to open Kargil Skardu road, visa relaxations and telephonic communication. The speakers also insisted to the people that the carnage in Chilas is not a Shia Sunni issue, while the Pakistan Government, Pakistan army in particular is knowingly diverting it as a sectarian issue to make the peace loving people of GB violent, and to change the demography of the region to make it conducive for cross-border Jihadi-Deobandi terrorism.
Meanwhile the President National Conference Kargil Haji Ghulam Hassan Khan in a statement condemned the killings of Shias in Gilgit Baltistan and appealed the Government of India to take up the issue with the International Community by representing the feelings of the people of Kargil. Like wise teachers of Islamia School Kargil also condemned the killings in Gilgit Baltistan.
Adapted from Scoop New
World Shia Forum 
Open Skardu route, End Kargil isolation: Mehbooba
by Scoop News April 11, 2012
Srinagar, April 11 (Scoop News) –Calling for bold and visible measures to unshackle Kargil district from physical and economic constraints, PDP president Mehbooba Mufti has called for fast tracking of the construction of tunnel across Zojilla.
During an interaction with the delegation of respected citizens of Kargil, she urged the govt of India that the work on proposed tunnel at Zojilla be started from Kargil side as well so that the facility is made available in minimum possible time.
Under the leadership of Sheikh Mohd Ishaq Waaizi, a religious scholar from Barsoo and Najjaf Ali, a retired police officer from Kaksar, a team had called on the PDP president in Srinagar and later expressed willingness to join the PDP and subscribed to its membership and agenda.
Those who joined the PDP include Haji Ali Ghulam Hangis Chiktan, Nisar Ahmed Chiktan, Ali Mohammed Budgam, Gh Nabi Chokiyal Drass, Mohd Shabir Suru Khawas, Gh Hyder Panikhar and Mohd Hussain Kaksar.
Mehbooba said Kargil was one of those areas which had tremendous potential for growth but had remained backward as a result of the political apathy of those who had been elected on their vote. The only time the district voted for the party other than the NC in many decades was in 2002. It was then that the hill development council was created and empowered for carrying on the developmental tasks.
She said it was unfortunate that the present govt has reversed the process of empowerment of this backward district with the result the development process has come to a standstill.
She said construction of tunnel was pursued by the PDP as part of its connectivity plan for better inter-regional transport between the three regions of Ladakh, Kashmir and Jammu. She said it was necessary that the construction of tunnel that has received approval is taken up from the both ends.
Mehbooba said in order to let the full potential of the region to be exploited it was also necessary that Kargil-Skardu road is thrown open. She said the governments of India and Pakistan had in principal agreed to do so. Once implemented this would revive not only the cultural contacts of Kargil with Gilgit and other northern areas but would also open up a whole world of trading opportunities to entire state.
Kargil, Mehbooba recalled, had been a trading hub between South Asia, Central Asia and China till 1948 and it was the PDP’s vision to reopen those opportunities by activating these traditional routes. Opening up of Kargil-Skardu road, she said, would be part of the process started with the opening of Srinagar-Muzaffarabd and Poonch-Rawalakote roads in Kashmir and Jammu regions.
“The biggest CBM of the cross-LoC initiated by India and Pakistan with the PDP pushing hard for it will remain incomplete without opening up of Kargil-Skardu road,” she said. The delegation apprised Mehbooba about problems being faced in Kargil and urged her to take them up for redressal. The delegation representatives said Kargil needed a flyover to reduce traffic congestion and also demanded the beautification of the banks of river Suroo. They urged the upcoming campus of the university should be located centrally, close to the district headquarters so that it is easily accessible to students from the entire region.
Referring to the neglect that the Kargil district had suffered at the hands of the present dispensation, the delegation pointed out that a small 24 ft bridge Goma – Kargil that had been washed away in 2010 was still awaiting reconstruction. This, they said, only reflected the general attitude of apathy the administration has adopted towards Kargil. They also pointed out that in 2010 floods most of the Hagnis had been washed away but none of the residents had received any relief till now nor had any rehabilitation effort been under taken.
http://www.groundreport.com/Business/Open-Skardu-route-End-Kargil-isolation-Mehbooba/2945401
BJP slams Indian and J&K governments for ignoring Shia massacres in Gilgit Baltistan
Kashmir leader asks India, Pakistan to open Kargil-Skardu road
South Asian News Agency (SANA) ⋅ April 12, 2012 ⋅ Share/Save
Srinagar.(SANA)Kashmir’s main opposition political party Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Wednesday asked India and Pakistan to stick to their word and open the traditional route between Kashmir’s Kargil and Baltistan’s Skardu area.
“The opening up of Kargil-Skardu road would be a part of the process started with the opening of Srinagar-Muzaffarabd and Poonch-Rawalakote roads in Kashmir and Jammu regions,” said PDP president Mehbooba Mufti in Srinagar.
India and Pakistan allowed opening up trade routes in 2008 between parts of Kashmir and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir with Rs. 600 crore trading done already in the last four years.
Mehbooba said the governments of India and Pakistan had in principal agreed to do so. “Once implemented this would revive not only the cultural contacts of Kargil with Gilgit and other northern areas but would also open up a whole world of trading opportunities to entire state,” she said.
“The biggest CBM of the cross-LoC initiated by India and Pakistan with the PDP pushing hard for it will remain incomplete without opening up of Kargil-Skardu road,” said Mufti.
Accusing the past dispensations of not allowing Kargil to open up to the outside world, Mufti said, “Kargil was one of those areas which had tremendous potential for growth but had remained backward as a result of the political apathy of those who had been elected on their vote.”
Kargil is 120 km away from Srinagar but remains cut off for six months as only surface road is blocked by snow. The frontier district of Kargil lies near the Line of Control facing Pakistan-occupied Gilgit-Baltistan areas west.
“The work on the construction of Zojilla tunnel (which connects the district with Srinagar) tunnel is necessary to be taken up from the both ends,” said Mehbooba.
Mehbooba said in order to let the full potential of the region to be exploited it was also necessary that Kargil-Skardu road is thrown open.
Kargil was a trading hub between South Asia, Central Asia and China till 1948.
http://www.sananews.net/english/kashmir-leader-asks-india-pakistan-to-open-kargil-skardu-road/
Pakistan Occupied Kashmir is on fire, but do we care?
By ANI | ANI – Wed 11 Apr, 2012
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New Delhi, Apr 11 (ANI): In Gilgit Baltistan, Pakistan’s only Shia dominated province ethnic cleansing is being carried out systematically, away from media glare and international attention. Hundreds of Shia Muslims staged a protest in front of the Lahore Press Club on April 10th urging the media to pressurize the Pakistani government to stop the atrocities on its community in Gilgit Baltistan. On April 9th a rally was held in Kargil against targeted killings in GB and local leaders appealed to the Indian government to take up the issue with the international community.
Gilgit Baltistan formerly known, as Northern Areas was once part of the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir, which India terms as Pakistan Occupied Kashmir. Maps in India still show Gilgit Baltistan or Northern Areas or PoK as a region within Indian Territory. An Indian parliamentary resolution of 1994 states, “Pakistan must vacate the areas of the Indian State of Jammu and Kashmir, which they have occupied through aggression.”
That resolution is gathering dust in some library because we are desperately hunting for confidence building measures with our nuclear neighbour, and in the seventeen years since that resolution was passed, most of India, even Kashmiris, are oblivious to the goings on in Gilgit Baltistan. Laying a claim on that part of Kashmir is not considered ‘pragmatic’ or ‘practical’, hence it doesn’t figure in Indian official discourse. But that doesn’t prevent Pakistan from meddling in the affairs of that part of Kashmir, which is in India’s control.
The Indian foreign office makes no comments on what happens in PoK, treating it, for all practical purposes, as an internal matter of Pakistan. Though according to the Indian parliamentary document it is illegally in Pakistani control. The unanimously passed parliamentary resolution of 1994 also “expresses regret and concern at the pitiable conditions and violations of human rights and denial of democratic freedoms of the people in those areas of the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir, which are under illegal occupation of Pakistan.”
Pakistan foreign office rarely comments on the affairs of Gilgit Baltistan, as officially GB’s status is ambiguous. This impoverished area is governed under the Gilgit Baltistan Order of 2009, which doesn’t give the people of this region the same rights as the rest of Pakistan.
Since the beginning of April scores of Shias are being killed ruthlessly. The estimates number from 40 to 400. The numbers cannot be verified as the area is out of bound for the media or foreigners. In attacks on some public transport vehicles, over 300 men were abducted and nobody has heard of them since. Their families are not hopeful of finding even their bodies. In Chilas male passengers were physically examined for telltale marks of self-flagellation (Shia) and then executed. In Nagar there are rumours of 30 being stoned to death.
Locals say that the Kohistan and Chilas incidents where cold-blooded mass murders took place were planned and supported by the Pakistani establishment, which is bent on terrorising the people and changing the demographics of GB.
Terror camps which were being run here openly with the active support of the Pakistani Army have bred hundreds of Sunni jihads of the Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP) who are running loose now all across Gilgit Baltistan, killing Shia Muslims. Interior Minister Rehman Malik tried to deny the sectarian nature of the conflict saying some “hidden forces are involved.” But the Inspector General of Gilgit Baltistan, Hussain Asghar went on record to say, “I don’t think there is any foreign hand involved in the sectarian riots.”
Gilgitis have been voicing their concern for several years now that their region is under Taliban attack from the Waziristan region and being used as safe havens for jehadis, supported by the Salafi elements in the Pakistan Army.
At the 13th session of the UN Human Rights Council Abdul Hamid Khan of the Balwaristan National Front said, ” Human rights abuses are widespread and common in Gilgit Baltistan for many decades but the absence of local media and independent judiciary have helped Islamabad to hide its illicit practices…”
Shias, Ismailis and moderate Sunnis are under threat in Gilgit Baltistan as ethnic cleansing is systematically being carried out by radical elements in Pakistani society. Due to the vital link to China through the Karakoram Highway, GB is a strategic asset for Pakistan. The demographic change it seeks to do there is with aim of bringing the region into its iron grip with total disregard to human rights and international law. By Smita Prakash (ANI)
http://in.news.yahoo.com/pakistan-occupied-kashmir-fire-care-045615005.html
Gilgit-Baltistan violence: Kargil observes shutdown
Last Updated: Saturday, April 14, 2012, 21:39 0
Tags: Gilgit-Baltistan, Kargil, Pakistan
Jammu: Shia-dominated Kargil border town in Jammu and Kashmir on Saturday observed a complete bandh in protest against the recent sectarian violence in Gilgit-Baltistan region of northern Pakistan.
Responding to a bandh call by Anjuman-e-Jamiyatul Ulima Asna Ashriya (Islamia School Kargil) to express solidarity with the people of Gilgit-Baltistan, all shops and business establishments in the town remained closed and vehicles kept off the roads.
People from many villages in Kargil district assembled at Islamia School Kargil carrying black flags and placards and chanting slogans against the killings in the region.
On April 3, at least 14 people were killed and over 50 others injured after violence erupted between rival Shia and Sunni groups in Gilgit city, the capital of the region.
Protesters in Kargil also took out a march and raised slogans against the Pakistan government.
Nayib Imam Jumma of Islamia School Kargil, Hujattul Islam Sheikh Hussain Mukaddas, appealed to the Indian government to intervene and help stop the killings in the region.
PTI
http://zeenews.india.com/news/jammu-and-kashmir/gilgit-baltistan-violence-kargil-observes-shutdown_770025.html
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UN, US asked to pressure Pak to open Gilgit-Ladakh trade route
A day after the killing of 21 Shias by militants, an organisation representing the people of Gilgit Baltistan has asked the United States and the United Nations to put pressure on Pakistan to open the trade routes with Tajikistan, Afghanistan and Laddakh.
“United Nations and USA
are requested to pressure Pakistan to open travel and trade routes towards Tajikistan, Afghanistan and Indian Ladakh so that Shias are not forced to travel on the roads that have become killing fields and virtually controlled by ISI-led militants like Lashkar Toaiba, Lashkar Jhangvi and Sipah Sihaba,” Washington based Gilgit Baltistan National Congress (GBNC) said in a statement on Friday.
Alleging that Shias and other religious minorities are being prosecuted in Pakistan, the Gilgit Baltistan National Congress in its statement demanded that the state department grant a CPC (country of particular concern) status to Pakistan and impose restrictions on activities of Pakistani secret service agencies and their militant allies.
“It is feared that Shia killings will continue until the strategic region of Gilgit Baltistan has a Shia majority population.
“The region connects Pakistan with China and Central Asia and intelligence agencies see Shia majority as a threat to their control over this strategic corridor,” GBNC alleged.
GBNC alleged that similar attacks by pro-Pak militants on Shia majority populations in the strategic valley of Parachinar have forced tens of thousands of Shias to abandon their homes, there by converting Parachinar into a Sunni region.
“Parachinar provides direct access to Pakistani troops to Ghazni, Gardez and central Afghanistan. It is feared that similar strategies are being implemented in Quetta, which neighbors Kandahar and Helmand provinces of Afghanistan, and where Hazaras make up almost one-third of capital’s population,” the statement alleged.
Yesterday, suspected militants have pulled out 25 Shia Muslims from three buses and shot them dead in northern Pakistan, the third such sectarian attack in the restive region in six months.
The gunmen stopped the buses in Naran Valley of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province and asked the people to get out of the vehicles, witnesses told TV news channels.
The buses were going from the garrison city of Rawalpindi to Astore in Gilgit-Baltistan, which has a sizeable Shia population.
http://www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/Americas/UN-US-asked-to-pressure-Pak-to-open-Gilgit-Ladakh-trade-route/Article1-914846.aspx
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Rashid Sami expalins Pakistan army’s ulterior designs in Gilgit Baltistan
In the following interview with Faisal Qureshi, Rashid Sami speaks on Gilgit Baltistan crisis in the aftermath of the Kohistan and Chilas tragedies. The interview shows that the current sectarian violence, which is in the main, Shia genocide, is sponsored and manufactured by Pakistan’s military sate and civilian government. Rashid said that there is sectarian harmony among Shias and Sunnis in GB, however, sectarian violence was imported and implanted by Pakistan army for certain strategic gains when it tried to change the demographic and sectarian composition of the area by importing Jihadi-Deobandi militants of the SIpah-e-Sahaba and affiliates. Pakistani media and people are fooled in the name of a pseudo-provincial setup. He is of the opinion that both Pakistan army and civilian government have their hand colored with blood of the innocent people of Gilgit Baltistan.
All India Shia Board slams Pakistan government for Shia genocide in Pakistan
http://criticalppp.com/archives/232993
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