A US-based activist from Gilgit-Baltistan bordering PoK has demanded that a UN-established fact-finding mission be sent to the strategic region to determine the conditions of imprisoned dissidents. He said Pakistan treats Gilgit-Baltistan like a colony and a separate geographical entity.
Chairman of the Movement for Democracy in Gilgit-Baltistan, Sange Sering, told a gathering of US lawmakers and human rights experts at the 24th Commemoration of Vietnam Human Rights Day.
US Capitol that Gilgit-Baltistan cannot end rights abuses without the help of the international community. He said that Pakistan’s military and intelligence agencies are seizing thousands of acres of private land in the region.
Those who oppose such illegal policies are declared terrorist and face torture and incarceration. The Asian Human Rights Commission’s report on Gilgit-Baltistan states that such practices of land grabbing have resulted in the displacement of locals and a state-sanctioned demographic change.
Source: AIR