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Geo-Strategic Significance of Gilgit-Baltistan - L by NDT Special Bureau Page 2 NEW DELHI TIMES R.N.I. No 53449/91 DL-SW-1/4124/20-22 (Monday/Tuesday same week) (Published Every Monday) New Delhi Page 24 Rs. 7.00 18 - 24 May 2020 Vol - 30 No. 16 Email : [email protected] Founder : Dr. Govind Narain Srivastava ISSN -2349-1221 Far-right exploit Kabul 2020 is COVID-19 crisis to a reminder of propagate ideology Karbala 680CE Far right extremist groups are exploiting the The dull daily drumbeat of deaths because COVID-19 crisis to seek public legitimacy for of the pandemic was briefly interrupted on their ideological narrative. An investigation Tuesday by news of a massacre of babies and by the BBC dated May 4, 2020, along with expectant mothers at a maternity hospital in the UK counter-extremism think-tank, Kabul. One could shrug one’s shoulders and Institute of Strategic Dialogue (ISD) has say, ‘Well, what else do you expect from studied how extremist groups across... Afghanistan,’ and many did as was... By Dr. Ankit Srivastava Page 3 By Tarek Fatah Page 2 Geo-strategic significance of Gilgit-Baltistan - l By NDT Special Bureau Page 2 Cows need to be shown same respect Holistic growth requires Accelerating Regional Action for and compassion as humans balance of mind and body Sustainable Oceans in Asia And the Pacific Rosamund Young has written a book called ‘The Secret The relationship between mind and body has been the Written interview with New Delhi Times Life of Cows’, which surprisingly for a book on animals, centre of query for all fields of sciences be it medical, How important are oceans to the sustainable development in has shot to the Top Ten bestseller list of the... philosophical, metaphysical, psychological... the Asia-Pacific Region?... By Smt. Maneka Sanjay Gandhi Page 22 By Dr. Pramila Srivastava Page 21 By Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana Page 4 For critical insights One Year* Five Year* Subscribe Rs. 350 Rs. 1500 For more information Contact : +91-9999 337 800 To Subscribe E-Paper Whatsapp +91 9999 478 735 * Details on Page 21 1 twitter@NewDelhiTimes facebook.com/newdelhitimes www.NewDelhiTimes.com 2 18 - 24 May 2020 Opinion NEW DELHI TIMES Geo-strategic significance of Gilgit-Baltistan - l Gilgit-Baltistan actually belongs to India. ◆ By NDT Special Bureau Indian leaders neither know nor dare to @NewDelhiTimes own up the land of Gilgit. They cannot even comprehend that to be secure, India must [email protected] have Gilgit-Baltistan, at any cost, under any circumstances. (This is the first leg of the two-part article on Gilgit-Baltistan. Inputs: Kashmir Adhyan As India strives to be a strong economic Kendra) power in the world, the road connectivity ammu Kashmir’s importance is neither from Gilgit to strategic places of the world J for Jammu, nor for Kashmir or even assumes importance. Most parts of the globe Ladakh. Its real importance is traceable can be reached through Gilgit. By road from to Gilgit-Baltistan only. All the foreign Gilgit, Dubai is 5000 km, Delhi 1400km, invasions on India throughout the history Mumbai 2800km, Russia 3500km, Chennai (of Saka, Hun, Kushans, and Mughals) have 3800km, and London 8000km. When India taken place only through Gilgit-Baltistan. was deemed the golden goose, all trade Our ancestors really gauged the importance with the world used to pass through this of Jammu and Kashmir. They knew well that silk route; around 85% of our population was connected through these routes. If we if India has to be kept safe from repetitive Photo Credit : Getty Images have Gilgit-Baltistan with us, we can travel incursions of foreign invaders, then the and gold mines as per the reports of Mineral of 64000km belongs to Ladakh. Gilgit- to Central Asia, Eurasia, Europe and all of invaders had to be kept away from Hindu Department of Pakistan Occupied Kashmir. Baltistan was never a part of Kashmir but Africa by road. We entreat Pakistan for IPI Kush beyond Gilgit-Baltistan. That explains why China is trying so hard always remained a part of Ladakh. This (Iran-Pakistan-India) gas pipeline. Tajikistan to clamp influence there. It is supporting explains why India reorganised J&K into At some point in history, America wanted straddles just on the other side of Gilgit. If Pakistan on every bend. We Indians are two autonomous Union territories- states- to be saddled in Gilgit-Baltistan. Britain- India has Gilgit, no need to persuade any th still blissfully unaware of the strategic Jammu Kashmir and Ladakh. Pakistan now the superpower till first half of 20 century- country for gas resources. also tried to establish a base there. Pakistan significance of Gilgit-Baltistan. Pakistan’s runs from pillar to post in the international always wanted the region. Even Russia was Himalaya’s top nine mountain peaks are also neglect and torture of the people of Gilgit- sphere for Kashmir. about to settle at Gilgit. In 1965, Pakistan among the tallest ten peaks of the world. Out Baltistan have turned them against Pakistan. International community needs to ask had conspired to handover Gilgit region to of these ten, 2 peaks are in Gilgit-Baltistan. Development of such strong anti-Pakistan Pakistan whether the parts of Jammu and Russia. Today, China is consolidating its All these are Indian assets and resources. After tendencies over decades is very important Gilgit-Baltistan it has illegally occupied and position and rapidly spreading influence China annexed and occupied the whole of from India’s perspective. hanging on for seven decades, was ever a part there. Tibet in 1959, much of the water resources of Indians talk of Kashmir but unfortunately of Kashmir. Pakistan can’t answer. The life India and South East Asian countries are lost to expectancy of the people of Gilgit-Baltistan It is the irony of history that when the Jammu, Ladakh and Gilgit-Baltistan totally China. Therefore, the alternate water resource and Ladakh remains the highest in the world. entire world is too aware of the geostrategic escape their attention. Out of the total in Gilgit Baltistan is an important resource for People here live longer than those inhabiting implications of Gilgit and knows the 79000 sq.km of Pakistan Occupied Kashmir, India, especially Kashmir. other area of the globe. That’s an added bonus. salience of the region, only India is yet to Kashmir accounts for mere 6000 km, conceive its importance. It knows not that Surprisingly, Gilgit has 50-100 large Uranium and Jammu 900km, while a vast area (To be concluded) Kabul 2020 is a reminder of Karbala 680CE incidents may be pre-medieval history for Prophet’s progeny that was the reason the Afghan president Ghani who knows better ◆ By Tarek Fatah Author & Columnist, Canada most non-Muslims, for us, ‘the faithful’, it Pakistan-backed Taliban devastated the lives than to be pompous. is like yesterday, as it has been for centuries. of so many. @TarekFatah The question we have before us is this: [email protected] How do we eradicate the virus of violence, he dull daily drumbeat of deaths because bullying and intimidation from among some T of the pandemic was briefly interrupted Muslims of this world, be they the Kabul on Tuesday by news of a massacre of killers or those who have me on a death list babies and expectant mothers at a maternity or those who have vowed to behead India’s hospital in Kabul. leading TV host, Sudhir Chaudhury? One could shrug one’s shoulders and Here in Canada, some Muslims have say, ‘Well, what else do you expect pressured city councils to permit mosques to from Afghanistan,’ and many did as was blare “Allah O Akbar” into the homes and illustrated by the lack of space given to the neighbourhoods of non-Muslims. first-ever baby massacre of our times. In the words of Canadian Islamic scholar But for some of us who are students of Syed Muhammad Rizvi, “the Ummah Islamic history, this slaughter was no (Muslim community) has reached a point ordinary killing; it was a reminder of a where human life has no value anymore. We similar massacre 1,400 years ago in the don’t think twice about killing someone who Iraqi city of Karbala, where the then rulers Photo Credit : Getty Images doesn’t agree with us.” of Islamdom surrounded the progeny of The followers of Imam Hussain and his This is the direct result of bankrupt U.S. Prophet Muhammad and, like Kabul, slit father Ali have faced horrific discrimination, foreign policy in the region and its stupidity Even Mahatma Gandhi was troubled the throats of babies and the grandson of slaughters and ethnic cleansing by those best was reflected in what US Secretary of State by the attitude of Muslims. In an article Muhammad, Imam Hussain Ibn Ali. described as ‘Sunni Muslims’ while their Mike Pompeo had to say. He called the published in 1924, Gandhi asserts, “My own victims are the ‘Shias’ or the ‘Party of Ali.’ assault “appalling,” adding “the Taliban and experience but confirms the opinion that the They later paraded his severed head through the Afghan government should cooperate Mussalman, as a rule, is a bully.” the streets of the capital of the Islamic Understanding this divide is crucial to to bring the perpetrators to justice. … As Caliphate in Damascus. grasp the significance of what happened long as there is no sustained reduction in While the rest of world bestows great on Tuesday in the Dasht-e-Barchi district violence and insufficient progress towards a respect on Gandhi, they’ll be surprised to Islam died that day and horrific killings west of Kabul, at the maternity clinic run negotiated political settlement, Afghanistan learn that many Muslims portrayed him became the order of the day ever since, be by Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF).
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