Protests in Gilgit-Baltistan over building demolitions

Houses and shops were demolished recently for the China Pakistan Economic Corridor. The demonstrators demanded that the PTI government must compensate them immediately.

Gilgit-Baltistan:Protests broke out in the Danyor district of the Gilgit-Baltistan region -- which was illegally occupied by Pakistan -- as the Imran Khan-led Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government demolished several houses and properties in the region.

Pakistan and China have been vigorously pursuing China's ambitious industrial China Pakistan Economic Corridor. For that, they have cleared large swathes of the territory of any form of habitation.

People complained that no notice was given to them before the acquisition and demolition of their properties.

"Such demolitions do not take place in the night but in the day time so that the people can gather their important belongings such as documents. Crores of documents (registers) have been destroyed," said one of the demonstrators.

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Another demonstrator echoing the same sentiment added that the PTI government has "destroyed the means of livelihood of the people."

The region of Gilgit Baltistan is under Pakistan's illegal occupation for more than seven decades and it has plundered it ruthlessly. Islamabad tapped the region's hydro resources to meet the needs of Lahore and Rawalpindi. It exploited the region's tourism potential to fill its coffers and now it is giving away people's land to China to secure its favours on international platforms.

Earlier known as Northern Areas, Gilgit-Baltistan has been governed by the "Gilgit-Baltistan Empowerment and Self-Governance Order of 2009".

Locals accuse Pakistan of systematically exploiting the resources of the region and not sharing the dividends with them.

Any resistance, they say, meets brutal government reprisal with activists and leaders hounded, arrested and tortured.

ANI

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