The people of the Gilgit-Baltistan region have a versatile and glorious History marked by unique achievements. This page discusses it with relish. It contains a detailed chronology of the major events in the History of the Pashtun people since the start of the Early Modern Times. It also offers interesting research material and analyses on the subject. You can join our discussions through your research and analysis.
گلگت بلتستان کے لوگوں کی غیر معمولی کارناموں پر مشتمل ایک لاثانی اور عظیم تاریخ ہے ۔ یہ صفحہ اس پر دلچسپی سے روشنی ڈالتا ہے۔ گلگت بلتستان کے ماضی کے ابتدائی جدید دور کی مفصل سالانہ تاریخ آپ کو ان صفحات پر ملے گی۔ یہاں پر آپ کو دلچسپ تحقیقاتی مواد اور آراء ملیں گیں۔ آپ اپنی تحقیق اور آراء کے اظہارکے ذریعے ہماری سرگرمیوں کا حصہ بن سکتے۔
Chronology of the History of Gilgit-Baltistan
14 century CE Mir Syyid Ali Hamdani preached Islam in Gilgit-Baltistan region.
Turkic Tarkhan rulers also spread Islam in the region.
Hunza Rajas ruled the region.
Maqpon dynasty of Skardu too ruled the area.
1590-1625 Ali Sher Khan Anchan unifies Skardu with Chitral and Laddakh.
1811-1840 Last Maqpon ruler Ahmed Shah ruled the area.
1839-40 Zorawar Singh conqured Skardu from Ahmed Shah.Bhagwan Singh made Thanadar of Skardu.
1841 Ali Khan of Rondu, Haidar Khan of Shigar and Daulat Ali Khan from Khaplu led a successful uprising against the Dogras in Baltistan and captured the Dogra commander Baghwan Singh in Skardu.
1842 Dogra Commander Wasir Lakhpat, with the active support of Ali Sher Khan (III) from lKartaksho, conquered Baltistan for the second time. There was a violent capture of the fortress of Kharphocho. Haidar Khan from Shigar, one of the leaders of the uprising against the Dogras, was imprisoned and died in captivity.
1842-60 Gosaun was appointed as administrator (Thanadar) of Baltistan and till 1860, the entire region of Gilgit-Baltistan was under the Sikhs and then the Dogras.
1845-46 First Anglo-Sikh War. Gilgit-Baltistan became a part of the princely state called Jammu and Kashmir.
22 October 1947 First Indo-Pakistani Kashmir War started.
Nov 1, 1947 Major William Brown, the Maharaja’s commander of the Gilgit Scouts, mutinied on 1 November 1947, overthrowing the Governor Ghansara Singh.The bloodless coup d’etat was planned by Brown to the last detail under the code name “Datta Khel”, which was also joined by a rebellious section of the Jammu and Kashmir 6th Infantry under Mirza Hassan Khan. A provisional government (Aburi Hakoomat) was established by the Gilgit locals with Raja Shah Rais Khan as the president and Mirza Hassan Khan as the commander-in-chief. However, Major Brow had already telegraphed Khan Abdul Qayyum Khan asking Pakistan to take over.
Nov 16,1947 The Pakistani political agent, Khan Mohammad Alam Khan, arrived on 16 November and took over the administration of Gilgit. Brown outmaneuvered the pro-Independence group and secured the approval of the amirs and rajas for accession to Pakistan. The provisional government lasted 16 days. The provisional government lacked sway over the population. The Gilgit rebellion did not have civilian involvement and was solely the work of military leaders, not all of whom had been in favor of joining Pakistan, at least in the short term. Some opinion suggests, the people of Gilgit as well as those of Chilas, Koh Ghizr, Ishkoman, Yasin, Punial, Hunza and Nagar joined Pakistan by choice.
January 1, 1948 India took the issue of Jammu and Kashmir to the United Nations Security Council.
April 1948 United Nations Council passed its Resolution 47 calling for Pakistan to withdraw from all of Jammu and Kashmir and India to reduce its forces to the minimum level, following which a plebiscite would be held to ascertain the people’s wishes. However, no withdrawal was ever carried out, India insisting that Pakistan had to withdraw first and Pakistan contending that there was no guarantee that India would withdraw afterwards. Gilgit-Baltistan and a western portion of the state called Azad Jammu and Kashmir have remained under the control of Pakistan since then. For a short period after joining Pakistan, Gilgit-Baltistan was governed by Azad Kashmir if only “theoretically, but not practically” through its claim of being an alternative government for Jammu and Kashmir. According to the resolution Giligt-Baltistan is part of the disputed Kashmir region along with Azad Kashmir, Aksai Chin, the Shaksgam Valley, and Jammu, Ladakh, and the Valley of Kashmir.
By May 1948 Gilgit Souts had captured Baltistan and Ladakh and captured Skardu. They successfully blocked the Indian reinforcements and subsequently captured Dras and Kargil as well, cutting off the Indian communications to Leh in Ladakh.
Autumn 1948 The Indian forces mounted an offensive and recaptured all of Kargil district. Baltistan region, however, came under Gilgit control.
1949 Government of Azad Kashmir handed administration of the area to the federal government via the Karachi Agreement, on ‘an interim basis’ which gradually assumed permanence. According to the International Crisis Group, the Karachi Agreement is highly unpopular in Gilgit-Baltistan because Gilgit-Baltistan was not a party to it even while its fate was being decided upon.
1949-90 Gilgit-Baltistan ruled under Frontier Crimes Regulation. There was no democratic set-up for Gilgit-Baltistan during this period. All political and judicial powers remained in the hands of the Ministry of Kashmir Affairs and Northern Areas (KANA). The people of Gilgit-Baltistan were deprived of rights enjoyed by citizens of Pakistan and Azad Kashmir.
1963 The Shaksgam tract was ceded by Pakistan to China following the signing of the Sino-Pakistani Frontier Agreement.
1969 A Northern Areas Advisory Council (NAAC) was created.
1970 The territory of present-day Gilgit-Baltistan became a separate administrative unit under the name “Northern Areas”. It was formed by the amalgamation of the former Gilgit Agency, the Baltistan District of the Ladakh Wazarat and the hill states of Hunza and Nagar.
1974 Northern Areas Advisory Council (NAAC) renamed Northern Areas Council (NAC). Government of Pakistan abolished State Subject Rule in Gilgit- Baltistan, which resulted in demographic changes in the territory.
1984 The territory’s importance shot up on the domestic level with the opening of the Karakoram Highway and the region’s population came to be more connected with mainland Pakistan.
1994 Northern Areas Council (NAC) renamed Northern Areas Legislative Council (NALC). But like its predecessor bodies, it was devoid of legislative powers. All law-making was concentrated in the KANA Ministry of Pakistan. A Legal Framework Order (LFO) was created by the KANA Ministry to serve as the de facto constitution for the region.
Late 1990s The President of Al-Jihad Trust filed a petition in the Supreme Court of Pakistan to determine the legal status of Gilgit-Baltistan.
1993 An attempt was made by the High Court of Azad Jammu and Kashmir to annex Gilgit-Baltistan but was quashed by the Supreme Court of Pakistan after protests by the locals of Gilgit-Baltistan, who feared domination by the Kashmiris.
May 28,1999 Supreme Court directed the Government of Pakistan to ensure the provision of equal rights to the people of Gilgit-Baltistan, and gave it six months to do so. Following the Supreme Court decision, the government took several steps to devolve power to the local level. However, in several policy circles the point was raised that the Pakistani government was helpless to comply with the court verdict because of the strong political and sectarian divisions in Gilgit-Baltistan and also because of the territory’s historical connection with the still disputed Kashmir region and this prevented the determination of Gilgit-Baltistan’s real status. A position of ‘Deputy Chief Executive’ was created to act as the local administrator, but the real powers still rested with the ‘Chief Executive’, who was the Federal Minister of KANA. “The secretaries were more powerful than the concerned advisers,” in the words of one commentator. In spite of various reforms packages over the years, the situation is essentially unchanged.
August 29, 2009 PPP-Government package for the Gilgit-Baltistan region. The Gilgit-Baltistan Empowerment and Self-Governance Order 2009 was passed by the Pakistani cabinet and later signed by the then President of Pakistan Asif Ali Zardari. The order granted self-rule to the people of Gilgit-Baltistan, by creating, among other things, an elected Gilgit-Baltistan Legislative Assembly and Gilgit-Baltistan Council.
