The wider Himalayan Arc, consisting of mountain ranges that incorporate major mountain systems such as the Tien Shan, Pamir, Hindu Kush, Karakoram, Himalaya, and Kun Lun Shan Mountains, is ecologically a very diverse mountainous region with peaks and plateaux. Steep mountain slopes and deeply incised valleys, glaciated areas above the snow lines, deserts and steppes, forests, rangelands, and wetlands compose a region that offers limited space for mountain communities to settle in compact oases and vast areas for extensive forms of pastoral practices herding predominantly for 16 million yaks, and much higher numbers of sheep and goats. About 60% of the Hindukush-Himalayan surface is composed of rangelands and pastures.

The Skardu incident serves as a stark reminder of the urgent need to address online exploitation and its potential real-world consequences. By focusing on education, awareness, and robust legal frameworks, we can create a society that values privacy and respect both online and offline.

Pakistan is one of the most dangerous places for women and girls. Violence against women and girls is rising throughout the country. According to human rights reports roughly 1,000 women are killed in so-called honor-related crime every year. Supposedly egalitarian societies like Gilgit-Baltistan are no exception. A girl was murdered in Kharmang, Baltistan, by her brother after a video became viral on social media.

The constitution is the living document and an instrument of social contract between the citizens and the state. It also aims to fulfil people’s aspirations by guaranteeing their fundamental rights.

Corporate giants use clever tactics to quickly make massive profits, but they don’t realize the climate crisis is caused by their rapacious exploitation of land use, water use, and fossil fuel, and their endless quest for profiteering is seizing our ability to breathe clean air.

promoting real estate business in mountain regions should be discouraged as it may result in disfiguring mountain landscape, create ecological and civic problems, as well as mass scale displacement and migration of people

Enforced disappearances has become pervasive in Pakistan. The use of enforced disappearances as a tool by security agencies to silence dissent, particularly political activists, journalists, students, and even children in Balochistan, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, and Sindh provinces has increased alarmingly.

One of the reasons why harassment is so pervasive in our society is that it is often normalized and overlooked. We need to change this attitude and recognize that harassment is unacceptable, no matter what form it takes. We must encourage victims to speak up and report incidents of harassment, and we must hold perpetrators accountable for their actions.

This isn’t the first time that the military establishment has been on the receiving end of a public backlash. Will the outcome be different this time? Aasim Sajjad Akhtar There are thousands of charged protesters on the streets of Islamabad, many inside the otherwise impermeable Red Zone. They face baton charges, tear gas shelling, and arrests. Fierce slogans against the …

Rugged terrain of the region amplifies gender disparity in work. According to the Pakistan Social and Living Standards Measurement (PSLM) survey 2019-20, the labor force participation rate for women in Gilgit-Baltistan was only 18%, significantly lower than the rate for men, which was 65%. This disparity is also evident in the education sector where the literacy rate for women in Gilgit-Baltistan is only 31%, compared to 58% for men.

by Rozina Ahmed Debate over women’s right to property and inheritance in Pakistan, in general, and in Gilgit-Baltistan, in particular, is commonplace in mainstream media, social media, and political circles. Although women’s right to property and inheritance is mandated by Islamic Shariah as well as the Constitution of Pakistan, it is rarely honored in practice. Even in regions where the …

By Safiullah Baig Diamer District is once again in the limelight for not a good reason but for a despicable act of burning a girl’s school in Darel by some extremist elements. Some mainstream and social media activists as usual were quick enough to point towards Diamer as bastion of extremism in Gilgit-Baltistan. This has made things murkier and will …

The senior journalist and TV commentator said the PML-N could have governor’s rule imposed in Punjab. He said this is what he foresaw coming, sooner or later The Friday Times (TFT) editor Najam Sethi said on Friday that no more ‘audio leaks’ on the governing coalition will follow since Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan’s man on the dark web …

By Hamdan Ahmed After widening Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (QSD) strategic agenda, particularly focusing on limiting China in the Asian-Pacific region, the United States announced the Indo-Pacific Strategy in February 2022. The strategy has set up some ambiguous yet interesting objectives for the Indo-Pacific region, which was a battleground for the US-China economic and strategic competition lately and has now become …

The scale, scope and spread of the 2022 floods have surpassed the super floods of 2010. The monsoon rains have created unprecedented havoc in all regions of the country stretching from Gilgit-Baltistan and KP to Sindh, southern Punjab and Balochistan.