Security forces have successfully busted the local chapter of Balawaristan National Front (Hameed Group) Gilgit-Baltistan, a network of Indian intelligence agency Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) to carry out terrorism and subversion. According to details, the local chapter of BNF-H, which was busted in an intelligence-based operation (IBO), was carrying out subversion by publishing material through a magazine Balawaristan Times. A huge quantity of weapons and ammunition was also recovered during the IBO. As a result, activists of BNF were also apprehended.
The sub-nationalist organisation, the BNF-H GB, was cultivated on the behest of RAW and tried terrorism and subversion by targeting “Youth” in Gilgit-Baltistan and various universities of Pakistan. Reportedly, BNF-H chairman Abdul Hameed Khan (AHK) of Ghizer was recruited by RAW and taken to Nepal in 1999 and then shifted to India where he was handled by RAW’s agents, Colonels Arjun and Joshi. He was housed in three-star apartments at Delhi and provided lavish facilities.
Later, his family, including three sons, were shifted to India and were admitted to various schools and colleges in Dehradun, where huge investment was made by RAW for 11 years (1999 to 2007 and 2015 to 2018).
AHK was provided all kinds of Indian ID documents and facilitated to run business. 2007 onwards, while the education of his sons was sponsored in India and Europe, AHK was shifted to Brussels to appear on international forums to deliver anti-Pakistan speeches. Huge financial support was provided by RAW to the tune of Rs one billion, for the activities of BNF-H in Gilgit-Baltistan.
Besides activities in Gilgit-Baltistan large number of students were sponsored in various parts of country by RAW through AHK. Sher Nadir Shahi, chairman Balawaristan National Student Organisation (BNSO), student wing of BNF-H, was actively involved in these activities sponsored by RAW.
He was the main activist in Rawalpindi and Ghizer and was acting on the instructions of AHK and RAW from abroad. He used to publish magazine Balawaristan Times. Sher Nadir Shahi fled to UAE, sponsored by AHK and RAW, from where he was shifted to Nepal.
RAW pumped massive resources through AHK amounting to more than Rs 1 billion, out of which Rs 700 million were sent to Pakistan through different modes for subversive activities and terrorism in Gilgit-Baltistan and to discredit Pakistan internationally.
AHK was continuously pushed to activate his affiliates for sabotage and guerrilla activities and terrorism in Gilgit-Baltistan and offered all kind of support including provision of weapons, financial resources (Rs 12 million per annum), militant training and assistance to set up an FM Radio for propaganda.
Owing to the vigilance of Law Enforcing Agencies (LEAs) and intelligence agencies and successful launch of “Operational Pursuit” in which BNF-H local chapter was busted, RAW could not succeed.
In 2007-2008, having achieved so-called sustainable level of subversion in Gilgit-Baltistan, AHK was shifted to Brussels (2008-2015) to internationalise the issue at various international forums and media. AHK wrote to various international financial institutions not to provide financial or technical support to Pakistan for the six proposed dams in GB or elsewhere.
After a lot of efforts, AHK’s unconditional surrender on 8 February 2019, was followed by the surrender of Sher Nadir Shahi on 29 March 2019.
The Balawaristan issue came to the fore when Narendra Modi announced support for Baluchistan, Gilgit-Baltistan, Azad Jammu and Kashmir. The RAW machinations in Baluchistan and Karachi were disclosed by senior RAW operative Commander Kulbhushan Jadhav after he was nabbed, and he sang like a canary.
The Balawaristan issue pertains to the BHF seeking independence from Pakistan. The group states that the people of Balawaristan are geographically, ethnically, linguistically and culturally distinct from Pakistan and Kashmir, and that the region is incorrectly associated with the dilemma facing the disputed region of Jammu and Kashmir. The Balawaristan National Front has explicitly defined its goal as “freedom from Pakistan’s illegal occupation.” The Bolor Thinker Forum, in a public seminar in Rawalpindi in 2005, also called for “an independent Bolor state,” and asserted that “it was their legitimate right to demand an independent Bolor state”.
Some Balawar leaders argue that since the people of the region do not have representation in the Pakistani parliament, as the local people have been demanding for years, therefore Pakistan should not apply its laws. In recent years, some Pakistanis have also voiced support for greater political representation for the people of the region and for giving them federal representation and civic amenities. Some leaders have requested UN intervention in settling the North West provinces’ constitutional dilemma as they seek full rights, amenities and integration within the Pakistani federation.
However, some leaders of Balawaristan reject increased representation or economic packages as an alternative to independence and separation from Pakistani control, often specifically deriding the various economic and political “packages” that are designed by the Pakistani government for the area. Pakistani critics argue that an independent Balawaristan will not be able to function as a separate state with a small population (about 2 million), lack of subsidies provided by the Pakistani government, and landlocked status.
Some Balawar groups, such as the Gilgit-Baltistan United Movement, have limited their demands to total autonomy and a respect for their distinctiveness, asking the Pakistani government to end what they describe as its “colonial attitude.” The group opposes the appointment of Pakistanis as officials or judges in the region and, although not officially dedicated to seeking independence, had nevertheless issued an appeal to Barrack Obama upon his election as US President to use “his influences to restore the sovereignty of small nations of the world such as Palestine, Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan.” The Balawaristan National Students Organisation, in April 2008, raised a demand for Balawaristan to be constituted into the fifth province of Pakistan (the other four are Punjab, Sindh, Baluchistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.)
In 2009 as part of Gilgit-Baltistan Empowerment and Self-Governance Order, 2009, the region was granted self-rule with an elected legislature for the first time in its history, despite protests from India (which regards the region as Indian territory).
India asserts that Gilgit-Baltistan is part of the former princely state of Jammu and Kashmir which it regards as an ‘integral part’ of India.
Whereas the government of Pakistan has provided ample support to the people of Gilgit-Baltistan, more needs to be done to allay the grievances of the people. Simultaneously, intelligence agencies must be vigilant against the machinations of RAW and other enemies of Pakistan, who are constantly conspiring to destabilise Pakistan. If Narendra Modi is re-elected as Prime Minister of India, he will renew his efforts to destabilise Baluchistan, Gilgit-Baltistan, and Azad Jammu and Kashmir with a vengeance.
