By Ghulam Amin Beg For some years we thought that we have learned our lessons and embraced peace after decades of violence. We thought ‘the powers that be’ will ensure peace and calm in Gilgit-Baltistan as the gateway to CPEC and will shun the policy of ‘divide and rule’. We thought coalition governments and inclusive policies will help transition to …

Press Release Islamabad: The organisers of the Aurat Azadi March (women liberation march) Islamabad chapter has expressed dismay at the order issued by a Peshawar session court. The sessions court judge on Friday directed the Peshawar Cantonment police to file an FIR under Section 22A of the CrPC against organisers and participants of ‘Aurat March’ held on 8th March 2021 …

High Asia Herald Report Journalists, politicians, academics, intellectuals and rights activists have expressed solidarity with the organisers of Aurat Azadi March (AAM) and have condemned the smear campaign by obscurantist rightwing groups and trolls. The Aurat March was held in several cities of Pakistan to commemorate International Women’s Day on 8th March. A joint statement signed by over 1,000 leading …

News Desk QUETTA: Journalists, political parties and lawyers have expressed their resolve to fight for the freedom of the press, expression and speech guaranteed in the Constitution. They vowed to take every possible measure including a long march for safeguarding these fundamental rights next month from Quetta. These and other demands were made on the concluding day of a seminar …

‘State has systematically manipulated, denied the right to freedom, says Senator Raza Rabbani in his keynote speech at the second Asma Jahangir Memorial Lecture High Asia Herald Report (left to right) Human Rights Commission of Pakistan general-secretary Harris Khalique, HRCP chairperson Hina Jilani, I.A. Rehman, and Senator Raza Rabbani at the second Asma Jahangir Memorail Lecture on Tuesday, Feb 16, …

Calls for community-driven and managed approach in Gilgit-Baltistan By: Anmol, Shams Uddin & Anayat Baig Karachi: The neoliberal development and conservation have failed to achieve the objectives of protecting endangered species rather endangered the indigenous communities and nature. The market-driven model of conservation is aimed at colonization and securitization of people living in peripheries through the occupation of their common …

by Asad Raza Gokal Since September 2020, when the UAE struck with Israel a deal on normalizing relations, alarm bells began to ring louder for the Pakistani Shia diaspora residing in the country. In the United Arab Emirate (UAE), members of the Shia families, a religious minority, are mostly employed in professions that pay them enough to cater the needs …

High Asia Report GILGIT:  An accountability court on Tuesday accepted the application of Shah Salim Khan, a former member of Gilgit-Baltistan Assembly for bargain to pay Rs51 million he had embezzled in Sost Dry Port scam. Justice Khurshid Ahmed of the Accountability Court Gilgit approved the plea bargain on the recommendation of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) regional office. The …

by Aziz Ali Dad Let me start this review of the book “Hunza Matters: Bordering and ordering between ancient and new Silk Roads” by indulging in subjectivity. In 2015, I was a Crossroads Asia fellow at Modern Oriental Institute in Berlin, Germany. As a part of socialization, we interacted with different researchers and members of academia. On one weekend my …

Raza Gillani Why have we spent the last four years, presumably the most crucial time of our lives, organising at various campuses across the country and its administered areas on issues pertaining to student life, gender, education, class, ethnicity, race, etc.? Why have we wasted our time in searching for those who share our principles, dreams, and resolve? Why have …

Of the total 14 political prisoners, 10 have been so far freed in three phases. AWP leader Baba Jan, Iftikhar Karbali and two others are likely to be released on November 27 and 30. High Asia Herald Report Five prisoners from Hunza with political activists after their release from Gahkush jail on Tuesday, Nov 4. Photo: Rahim Khan GILGIT: Five …

Amir Hussain It might have been a chilly Saturday with clouds of victory hovering over the defence lines of Gilgit Scouts on November 1, 1947. It was a historic day when a legion of local military men of Gilgit Scouts revolted against the Dogra ruler of the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K). These men in uniform overthrew the …

More than 73 years since its independence, Gilgit-Baltistan remains subject to barely disguised colonial rule to await genuine enfranchisement. While many of Pakistan’s ethnic peripheries harbour deep grievances against the authoritarian and extractive logics of the country’s statecraft, GB is arguably the only region that remains explicitly deprived of even basic democratic, constitutional and human rights. It was only in …

By Ajmal Masood The territory of Gilgit-Baltistan until seventies had been comprised of clusters of autonomous princely states including Hunza and Nager. The two sovereign states had never remained under suzerainty of Jammu and Kashmir. After the Partition of the Indian Sub-Continent, Hunza and Nager were the first states to announce their decision of accession to the federation of Pakistan …

By Amir Roshan A massive protest joined by mourners on the occasion of Chehlum of the martyrs of Karbala at Aliabad Hunza on October 8. Photo by Ali Ahmed As the sit-in and protests for the release of Awami Workers Party (AWP) leaders Baba Jan, Aleem Ahmed, Iftikhar Karbalai, and 11 other imprisoned comrades continue, more people pour into Aliabad …