SECTARIAN DIVERSITY IN GILGIT BALTISTAN AND ROLE OF SUCCESSIVE GOVERNMENTS IN RESOLVING THE CONFLICT AND IMPROVING HARMONY WITHIN THE REGION

Abstract

Sectarian strife in Gilgit-Baltistan is not a new issue. There is a long-established controversy in the region based on religious differences. Gilgit-Baltistan is home to many sects, including Shia, Sunni, and Ismaili which have been inhabited for centuries, but sectarian tensions rose in the 1970s and subsequent decades. In spite of the fact that there was no genuine encounter between various groups in Gilgit-Baltistan during the British rule, there were dormant partisan biases among the people. A few practices and mentalities among Sunni and Shia group that indicated expanding disdain for one another among typically moderate individuals in issues of religion. Therefore, the main purpose of this study is to examine the evolution of sectarianism in Gilgit Baltistan mainly after the independence of Pakistan in 1947. Moreover, the objective is to analyze the root causes and nature of sectarian strife in Gilgit-Baltistan. The questions raised in this study also comprise that how the sectarianism grew in the post-1947 division of India, and what is the nature of the conflict in the Gilgit region, and what efforts have been made by the Pakistani government and political elites to minimize sectarian conflict in the region. This research is primarily descriptive and analytical in nature and based on the critical review of existing literature on the issue of sectarianism in Gilgit-Baltistan.