Islamabad, March 14 – Pakistan is using its counter-terrorism department to tighten its grip on the local Shia community, arresting dozens of Shia student protesters and charging them with terrorism. The Pakistan-administered Gilgit-Baltistan (PoGB), where Shias form the majority population, has long witnessed such actions, with intelligence agencies framing the community as a national threat, a report highlights.
According to a report in Global Strat View, the Pakistani military orchestrated the first Shia-Sunni clash in PoGB after occupying the region in 1947 to gain support from the local Sunni minority and consolidate its authority.
Since then, it said, “hundreds of native Shias” in PoGB have been "killed or displaced by the army and its proxy terrorist groups."
The latest military assault on Shias in PoGB on March 1 left 14 civilians dead and 60 injured, including eight boys under the age of 15.
"This happened when Shias were protesting the assassination of Iran's Ayatollah Khamenei. The Pakistani military blamed residents for setting fire to military offices, schools, and offices. In an interview with a journalist in Islamabad, a Shia leader said that military personnel shot and killed four women in front of him," the report noted.
Highlighting that PoGB remains under curfew, he said, "Life has become unbearable during Ramadan because individuals must fast while being denied access to fuel, food, water, and electricity. Thanks to Pakistani corruption and mismanagement in Gilgit, residents have access to water and electricity for a few hours every three days. As Ramadan begins, prices of food and beverage items in Pakistan skyrocket. In comparison, in India, vendors cut food prices during Ramadan to make life easier for Muslims in Ladakh and Kashmir."
The report noted that, similar to earlier attacks, the latest Shia massacre in PoGB had been preplanned.
"Millions of Shias demonstrated on the same day in Indian Ladakh and Kashmir, but no one was killed. The difference is that India embraces the Shias of Ladakh and Kashmir as its own citizens, while Pakistan continues its presence as an illegal occupier and coloniser of Gilgit Baltistan," it added.
The report alleges that Pakistan's Shia "extermination policy" has turned the local people of PoGB into a minority.
"On the other hand, the Shia population in Ladakh has increased from 40 per cent to 46 per cent in recent decades. There have been no attacks, targeted executions, or accusations of blasphemy, treason, or terrorism against Shias in Ladakh," it mentioned.
Asserting that Pakistani military policies fueled resentment among locals and a growing desire for liberation, the report said tens of thousands of people are currently on the streets of PoGB "wishing Pakistan's Army Chief, General Asim Munir, death."