Law, Governance, and Culture in Gilgit-Baltistan: Introduction

Abstract

International audience ; This paper offers an introduction to law, governance and culture in Gilgit-Baltistan. The first section provides a historical survey of the most significant events that make of Gilgit-Baltistan a disputed territory with uncertain constitutional status in Pakistan. The second section delves into the case law that has sanctioned the constitutional status and the rights of the people of Gilgit-Baltistan in connection with the concepts of liminality and marginality. The third section mentions two current mega-projects, the Bhasha Dam and the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), in order to highlight the economic and political stakes that Gilgit-Baltistan represents at the national and international level. The fourth section surveys religious diversity and sectarianism as components that consistently come up in recent socio-political analysis of Gilgit-Baltistan as factors underlying latent unrest and sudden conflicts. The paper concludes with a proposal to de-colonise the anthropology of Gilgit-Baltistan through a process of cultural expertise that includes perspectives and knowledge generated by scholars that are native of or have spent long time in Gilgit-Baltistan without necessarily belonging to the elitist networks of first class universities around the globe.