Righting the Wrongs in Ladakh-Baltistan

hamidm2
I am amazed at your thoughts. The people of Northern Areas never consider themselves as kashmiris and are amongst the staunchest of Pakistanis. Please do not give distorted versions. We are a federation and must the smallest of all ethnic/ relogious minorities. Your comments are going to deflect discussions on this board.

Cheerios

here we go again ! .............

.......... another primitive aborigine group is pushing its cuture and history and claiming that it is a ``distinct`` group and should be granted this or that status .......... next thing you know they will want to sing a balti/ladakhi versioin of the national anthem ..... not that anyone knows what language it is in to begin with ........ ``pak sir zamin shad bad``........wat the heck is that ?.....as george bush would say ``no habla se espanol`` .......

........... what is it with the third world types that they want to keep on digging up history and people long dead and other such nonsense, instead of getting on with the business of living today ??? ......... the only thing worth anything in gilgit/naltistan is the shangri-la resort where mrs, hamidm and i went on our honeymoon ............ other than that, there is nothing romantic about living in mud huts, wrapping your babies in dried goat droppings, and chasing after yaks ............ unique ``culture`` indeed !

in 1982, I trekked across Baltoro Glacier and across the Conway Saddle upto the Korakoram Pass. We came back across the Saltoro Range and then followed the Indus to Skardu. It was a wonderful experience. Just last year Ahmad Rashid, the Pakistani Traveler Anthropologist proposed trekking west of K2 to China but I was already caught in an expedition that would cut through the formidale NARA Desert. I donno if I will ever be able to go there again. So much for the beauty and splendour of the area.

As for the Skardu Kargil route, I think it cannot come till Siachin is demilitarised. Even then it may remain closed for better part of the year due to heavy snow, if and when a black top raod is indeed made. Most of the accesses are Silk Roads (mule tracks) aking weeks of travelling.

As an aside, many families got seperated once India occupied Kargil in 1971. I think it would be better to organise re unions in selected areas, giving split families a chance to meet.

I feel the writer is not well travelled in the area to fathom the geopgraphy.

Cheerios

a Siachen Peace Park!! What a great idea.

Good, informative article.