Neglect and Unrest: Pakistan-Occupied Gilgit-Baltistan's Struggle for Basics

According to the report, decades of neglect in the PoGB's public health system have left the region without adequate health facilities, functioning laboratories, life-saving equipment, and doctors.

"People in many cases, take patients to what they call 'down country' for treatment, putting an additional burden on their finances. Even the basic facilities such as electricity, clean water and sanitation remain rare in many areas," Sajjad Ahmad, an Assistant Professor and fellow of the Centre for Business and Economic Research at Karachi's IBA, wrote in leading Pakistani daily Dawn.

He stressed that "despite all these challenges, including a limited budget, the push to create more districts" in PoGB is strange.

In some areas, having a population under 50,000, the creation of a district adds further strain to an already limited budget. The report added that PoGB is now spending more in salaries and less on its development, which should be the other way around.

This year, wrote Ahmad, Ghizer, Ghanche, Skardu and other areas faced unprecedented floods, leaving many residents without livelihoods.

Over the past five years, the report highlighted, the region was also embroiled in mass demonstrations and large sit-ins over governance issues.

These protests primarily opposed Pakistan's attempt to end the wheat subsidy given to PoGB and impose tax. Civil society, political and religious groups sharply criticised the PoGB Land Reforms Act of 2025 and condemned the arrests of leaders of the Awami Action Committee - who have been vocal against certain decisions by local authorities.

The report stated that "the longest sit-in of almost two months at the Sost dry port" by local traders and businessmen against Pakistan's "effort to impose sales tax, advance income tax, and federal excise duty through Federal Board of Revenue, resulted in the decision to exempt imports worth up to Rs four billion from federal taxes if the goods are for local consumption".

The PoGB remained gripped by escalating unrest in 2025 with even the police personnel, protesting over delayed allowances and benefits, getting suspended with salary halts, an earlier report had cited.

Rather than addressing the grievances through dialogue, the actions of the regional administration, it said, deepened the tensions between law enforcement officers and the authorities.

An unrest broke out in mid-August when hundreds of police officers, including women constables, staged an overnight sit-in outside the residence of the regional authority in PoGB.

- IANS