Islamabad, April 6 – People blocked the Karakoram Highway (KKH) at various locations in the Diamer district of Gilgit Baltistan, which is under Pakistani control, to demand the rights of people affected by the Diamer-Bhasha Dam. They warned that they would hold a long march towards the dam construction site if their demands were not met. Several people travelling to and from other parts of Pakistan to Gilgit Baltistan were stranded due to the protests.
The Diamer-Bhasha Dam affected people's committee, under the "Ensure Rights, Then Build the Dam" movement, has been staging a protest sit-in in the Chilas and Thore areas of Diamer for the past five days. According to the leading Pakistani daily, Dawn, the protest erupted due to the non-implementation of the agreement made between the protesters and the federal government in 2025.
The organizers called for a protest in the Thore valley of Diamer on Sunday. Organizers said that people from Goharabad, Chilas, Goner Farm, and other parts of Diamer had started marching towards Thore valley to participate in the protests.
However, law enforcement personnel blocked the Karakoram Highway in the Ghichi and Hudor regions to prevent them from reaching Thore.
Protesters blocked the KKH at various points, and a large number of demonstrators in the Thore valley held a sit-in. Thousands of people travelling to and from other parts of Pakistan to Gilgit Baltistan were stranded, with long queues of vehicles on the Karakoram Highway.
Addressing the protesters in Thore, chief organizer Maulana Hazratullah said, "If our convoys from other areas are not allowed to reach Thore immediately, we will be forced to move towards the dam site and the Thore colony."
He blamed the officials of the Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda) for the situation and described them as the main obstacle to the enforcement of the agreement between the government and protesters.
The protesters said that the sit-in would only end when the authorities agreed to their demands. They said that Wapda officials had signed an agreement last year to address all issues. However, they said that not a single clause of the agreement had been implemented even after more than a year. They alleged that Wapda has not even met the protesters' basic demand of regularizing local contingent and contractual employees.
