The administrative units of Pakistan comprise four provinces, one federal territory, and two disputed territories: the provinces of Punjab, Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and Balochistan; the Islamabad Capital Territory; and the administrative territories of Azad Jammu and Kashmir and Gilgit–Baltistan. As part of the Kashmir conflict with neighbouring India, Pakistan has also claimed sovereignty over the Indian-controlled territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh since the First Kashmir War of 1947–1948. It also has a territorial dispute with India over Junagadh, but has never exercised administrative authority over either regions. All of Pakistan's provinces and territories are subdivided into divisions, which are further subdivided into districts, and then tehsils, which are again further subdivided into union councils.
Gilgit is a city in Pakistani-administered Gilgit–Baltistan in the disputed Kashmir region. It is the capital of the Gilgit-Baltistan region. The city is located in a broad valley near the confluence of the Gilgit and the Hunza rivers. It is a major tourist destination in Pakistan, serving as a hub for trekking and mountaineering expeditions in the Karakoram mountain range.
The Northern Light Infantry Regiment (NLI) is a light infantry regiment in the Pakistan Army, based and currently headquartered in Gilgit, Pakistan. Along with other forces of the Pakistani military, the NLI has the primary responsibility of conducting ground operations in the interest of defending the strategically-important territory of Gilgit−Baltistan, a Pakistani-controlled region that constitutes part of Kashmir, which has been disputed between Pakistan and India since 1947. The NLI draws a majority of its recruits from native tribes present in the nearby mountainous areas who are reportedly less prone to altitude sickness and the cold temperatures that characterize high-altitude mountain warfare, allowing the regiment to conduct its duties optimally.
ʻAbd al-Ḥamīd, also spelled as Abdulhamid, Abd-ul Hamid, and Abd ol-Hamid, is a Muslim male given name, and in modern usage, surname. It is built from the Arabic words ʻabd and al-Ḥamīd, one of the names of God in the Qur'an, which gave rise to the Muslim theophoric names. It means "servant of the All-laudable".
Balawaristan, is a term coined by Nawaz Khan Naji, founder of the Pakistani political party Balawaristan National Front (BNF), for a proposed autonomous province or a sovereign state consisting of Gilgit-Baltistan, Chitral and Kohistan regions in Pakistan as well as Indian-controlled Ladakh. Although the name, first used in 1989, does not have any historical basis, it sounds similar to Baloristan, which has been documented in Chinese sources to describe Baltistan and Gilgit Valley from the 8th century CE.
The Gilgit-Baltistan United Movement (GBUM) is a political movement of Gilgit-Baltistan based in Skardu, Pakistan. It demands a fully autonomous state consisting of Gilgit and Baltistan, formerly known as the Northern Areas.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to Pakistan:
Gilgit-Baltistan, formerly known as the Northern Areas, is a region administered by Pakistan as an administrative territory and consists of the northern portion of the larger Kashmir region, which has been the subject of a dispute between India and Pakistan since 1947 and between India and China since 1959. It borders Azad Kashmir to the south, the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to the west, the Wakhan Corridor of Afghanistan to the north, the Xinjiang region of China to the east and northeast, and the Indian-administered union territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh to the southeast.
The Balawaristan National Front is a defunct political party which sought Independence for Gilgit-Baltistan, claimed as Balawaristan, as well as claims in certain regions of the Indian-Administered Kashmir, Kargil and Ladakh, as part of its historical territory.
There are or have been a number of separatist movements in Pakistan based on ethnic and regional nationalism, that have agitated for independence, and sometimes fighting the Pakistan state at various times during its history. As in many other countries, tension arises from the perception of minority/less powerful ethnic groups that other ethnicities dominate the politics and economics of the country to the detriment of those with less power and money. The government of Pakistan has attempted to subdue these separatist movements.
The Gilgit Scouts were a paramilitary force within the Gilgit-Baltistan region in northern Pakistan. They were raised by the British Raj in 1913, on behalf of the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir, to police the Gilgit Agency, which formed the northern frontier of British India. The force was composed of local men recruited by British commanders.
Abdul Hamid Khan may refer to:
Gilgit-Baltistan is an administrative territory of Pakistan that borders the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to the west, Azad Kashmir to the southwest, Wakhan Corridor of Afghanistan to the northwest, the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of China to the north, and the Indian-administered region of Jammu and Kashmir to the south and south-east.
Human rights abuses in Kashmir have been perpetrated by various belligerents in the territories controlled by both India and Pakistan since the two countries' conflict over the region began with their first war in 1947–1948, shortly after the partition of British India. The organized breaches of fundamental human rights in Kashmir are tied to the contested territorial status of the region, over which India and Pakistan have fought multiple wars. More specifically, the issue pertains to abuses committed in Indian-administered Kashmir and in Pakistani-administered Kashmir.
Mirza Hassan Khan , of Majini Mohallah Gilgit, was a captain of the 6th Infantry of the Jammu and Kashmir State Forces. Placed at Bunji in the Gilgit wazarat, Khan rebelled against the Maharaja's regime after his accession to India and participated in the overthrow of the governor of Gilgit in November 1947. He later fought in the First Kashmir War as part of Gilgit rebel forces under the command of Colonel Aslam Khan and rose to become a colonel in the Pakistan Army. After leaving the army, he founded the Gilgit League to protest against the Pakistan's ad-hoc administration of Gilgit-Baltistan.
The siege of Skardu was a prolonged military blockade carried out by the Gilgit Scouts, Chitral Scouts and Chitral State Bodyguards, acting in coordination against Jammu and Kashmir State Forces and the Indian Army in the town of Skardu, during the First Kashmir War of 1947.
Muhammad Khalid Khurshid Khan is a politician who served as the President of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Gilgit-Baltistan from May 2022 to December 2023 and as the Chief Minister of Gilgit-Baltistan, a territory in Northern Pakistan until he was disqualified from his post on 4 July 2023 by the Gilgit-Baltistan Chief Court. He was also a member of the Gilgit Baltistan Assembly from 25 November 2020 until his disqualification.
Nawaz Khan Naji is a nationalist politician who is a member of the Gilgit Baltistan Assembly since 2011. He elected 3rd time and completed heat trek. He was born in a village, Sherqilla, in Ghizer District. He graduated in political science from Karachi University Sindh. He came back to Gilgit-Baltistan and founded his own nationalist political party, Balawaristan National Front, on 28 December 1989.
The Balawaristan National Front, more commonly known as the BNF, is a Pakistani political party of Gilgit-Baltistan. It was founded by Nawaz Khan Naji in 1989. The party calls for Gilgit-Baltistan to be given autonomy while still remaining a part of the Pakistani federation, and to be declared the fifth province of Pakistan.
In November 1947, the paramilitary force of Gilgit Scouts stationed at Gilgit rebelled against the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir, soon after it acceded to the Indian Union. Under the command of a British officer Major William Brown, they executed a coup d'etat, overthrew the governor Ghansara Singh, and imprisoned him. The Muslim troops of Jammu and Kashmir State Forces stationed at Bunji joined in the rebellion, under the command of Captain Mirza Hassan Khan, imprisoned their own commander Colonel Abdul Majid and eliminated the non-Muslim troops. A provisional government was declared under a local chief Shah Rais Khan, which lasted for about two weeks. On 16 November, a Pakistani political agent Khan Mohammad Alam Khan arrived and took over the administration.
