GILGIT-BALTISTAN [PoK], Feb 7: People in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, Gilgit-Baltistan, are compelled to live under severe circumstances, including a shortage of power supply amid a massive economic crisis that has gripped Pakistan.
According to Pakistan’s vernacular media, people in many areas in Gilgit City are forced to live in darkness for the past one week due to no electricity. People have taken to the streets in utter rage to protest the government. As a result, traffic was halted and commuters are experiencing many difficulties. If the uninterrupted electricity supply is not restored, protesters have issued a harsh warning that they will keep the highways blocked during the next demonstrations, local media reported.
They are protesting against the sharply rising inflation and unemployment.
This comes as Pakistan faces an economic crisis. Citizens hit by floods and the country’s food crisis have long remained silent witnesses to the failure of leadership at all levels.
People have for the past several months, been protesting against the high-handedness of the army which controls the region like its colony. The army is responsible for large-scale land grabbing and usurping of mineral mines in the region.
China and Pakistan business houses, in the name of China Pakistan Economic Corridor, have been looting the region’s local resources.
According to The Times of Israel, in the nearby Gilgit Baltistan, people have been up in arms against the local administration and federal government for open land grabbing by the army. In December, a small town, Manawar, witnessed a raging public protest at the detention of youngsters for protesting against the army. The army has been quick to clamp down on the protesters by charging them as terrorists.
Gilgit-Baltistan is currently in a serious financial crisis and seeking the release of funds from the federal government.
Gilgit-Baltistan Governor Syed Mehdi Shah highlighted the region’s financial crisis and asked for financial aid from the federal Government, reported Dawn.
Sources told Dawn that the federal Government had not released the annual financial development grant of the GB as the region depends on the financial grant of the federal Government. (ANI)
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