The Kashmir Nobody Mentions: Gilgit-Baltistan Elections and Pakistan's Quiet Gains
Pakistan recently conducted elections in Gilgit-Baltistan (GB), prompting India to issue a formal protest note asserting that the territory is an integral part of India illegally occupied by Pakistan.
What happened
Pakistan recently conducted elections in Gilgit-Baltistan (GB), prompting India to issue a formal protest note asserting that the territory is an integral part of India illegally occupied by Pakistan. Gilgit-Baltistan, carved out of the erstwhile princely state of Jammu & Kashmir, has been administered by Pakistan since 1947 but was never formally acceded to it. Pakistan has progressively deepened its administrative and constitutional integration of GB — granting it provisional provincial status in 2020 — while simultaneously hosting the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) through the region, creating irreversible economic facts on the ground. The international community, including the United Nations, has largely remained silent on this dimension of the Kashmir dispute, focusing instead on the Line of Control and the Valley. For India, this silence is strategically costly: it normalises Pakistani sovereignty over GB, undermines India's legal claim to the entire erstwhile state, and allows China to entrench infrastructure interests in disputed territory.
Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) is a strategically critical region bordering China, Afghanistan, and the Indian Union Territory of Ladakh.
●It was part of the princely state of Jammu & Kashmir at the time of Partition.
●The Maharaja of J&K had not acceded to Pakistan; GB was seized through a combination of local uprising and Pakistani irregular forces in November 1947.
●Pakistan administered it separately from Azad Kashmir for decades under the Frontier Crimes Regulations.
●In 2009, the Gilgit-Baltistan Empowerment and Self-Governance Order gave it a degree of self-rule, and in 2020 Pakistan's cabinet granted it provisional provincial status — a move India protested as illegal.
●CPEC's western alignment passes through GB, making Chinese investment in the region a direct stake in disputed territory.
●India's consistent legal position is that the entire erstwhile state of J&K, including GB and Azad Kashmir, is an integral part of India.
Pakistan's incremental constitutional integration of Gilgit-Baltistan, combined with CPEC infrastructure, is creating irreversible facts on the ground in territory India legally claims but strategically struggles to contest.
◎ In Simple Words
Imagine your neighbour took a part of your house decades ago and is now holding elections there as if it belongs to them — that is roughly what Pakistan is doing in Gilgit-Baltistan, a region that India says is legally its own. Pakistan has been quietly making this region look more and more like a regular Pakistani province, and even allowed China to build big roads and projects through it. The rest of the world barely notices or talks about it, which suits Pakistan perfectly. India had to officially complain about the elections, but the world's attention is mostly elsewhere.
Factual Pointers
Practice · 1 question
With reference to Gilgit-Baltistan, which of the following statements is/are correct?
1. It shares a border with China's Xinjiang region.
2. The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) passes through it.
3. It was formally acceded to Pakistan by the Maharaja of Jammu & Kashmir in 1947.
Select the correct answer using the codes below: