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New Delhi, Mar 13 (IANS) The two million people of Pakistan's mountainous Northern Areas have stepped up a campaign for independence, alleging that Islamabad had denied them their rights for 54 years, according to a journal published from Kargil in Jammu and Kashmir.

The monthly "Kargil International" quoted veteran Gilgit-Baltistan leader Mehboob Ali Khan as telling a function organised by the Karakoram National Movement (KNM) and Karakoram Students Organisation (KSO) to rise above sectarian and ethnic divide and unite under a common umbrella to fight for their rights and "liberate their people from Pakistani domination ".

The meeting was part of functions organised to mark the "independence day" of the region, known also as Gilgit-Baltistan, November 1, the journal said, adding that the day was celebrated in Gilgit, Rawalpindi, Skardu, Gazar and Karachi.

The Northern Areas have no status under the Pakistan Constitution. They are neither a province of Pakistan nor a part of the Pakistan-administered part of Kashmir, or what India calls Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir (PoK). The region is directly ruled from Islamabad through a Northern Areas council, which is headed by Pakistan's minister for Kashmir affairs.

"It is intriguing to know that there are no guarantees in Pakistani constitution for the people of this region as yet and we should believe to have been fooled by the Pakistani government," said another leader, Ghazi Anwar.

He said the people should not forget how their "independence was reduced to slavery in just 16 days due to conspiracies" and urged them to unite and work towards realising the goal of independence.

Described as "The last colony" by a Pakistani magazine, the region is the most backward in Pakistan. Unlike the people of Pakistan administered Kashmir, who have migrated in large numbers to the countries in the West in search of greener pastures, the people of the Northern Areas are denied the choice as they need an exit visa for going abroad.

Pakistan had ceded 5,180 square km of the Northern Areas to China under a 1963 agreement and the people of the region say that this would not have happened if they had an elected assembly of their own.

Anwar said while the Pakistan government loudly protested human rights violation in Kashmir, Palestine and Afghanistan, it turned a blind eye towards what was going on in Gilgit-Baltistan.

"We appeal to the Pakistani government to grant us self-rule till Kashmir issue is solved," the meeting said in a statement. "The Kashmiri leaders do not have any right to decide about our future and the people of Gilgit-Baltistan should be allowed to form their own government on the pattern of PoK (Pakistan-occupied Kashmir).

"For 53 years, the area comprising Gilgit and Baltistan remains a disputed territory with Pakistan forcing about two million residents of the area to lead life like animals," Kargil International said in an editorial.

It said: "When India and Pakistan got liberated in 1947, another region called 'Azad (free) Democratic Gilgit-Baltistan' was also born. But only after 16 days, this liberated region was again made subservient. When Kashmir issue came up, the separate identity of Gilgit-Baltistan was terminated."

At a convention of Baltistan Students' Federation, which was attended by "thousands of students and others," speakers said the 48,000 square km that was "liberated" at the time of partition in 1847 had been reduced to 28,000 square km by the Pakistani government as it had lost the Siachen region, Kargil/Drass and Khachlo areas .

Wajahat Hassan Khan, a retired army colonel, accused the Pakistani government of renaming the region as Northern areas and trying to bring about demographic changes.

Syed Hyder Shah Rizvi, a leader of the Gilgit-Baltistan National Movement, said the region was heading for a "rebellion" because of Islamabad's attitude. "When we had asked for constitutional rights, a separate state, a national assembly and other powers as are vested in PoK, it fell on deaf ears of the government. Now our demand is that the areas comprising Gilgit-Baltistan, Kargil-Ladakh and Kohistan-Chitral should be formed into a separate state, " he said.

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