[author image=”http://hunzanews.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/0.jpg” ]Naeem Khan Hamoon student at Northern Virginia Community College[/author]
The economy of the Gilgit Baltistan region is mostly dependent on the historical route the Karakoram Highway (KKH). The Chinese and Pakistani trade unions do businesses on the basis of their own self-interest. Still GB and its peoples are marginalized in the export and import category, because the central government of Pakistan design plans considering the provincial advantage, and sign MOUs with Chinese government, so we are economically on hold between china and the central government of Islamabad.
Secondly, the rest of economy is dependent on International tourism and agriculture. The Gilgit Baltistan is very beautiful mountainous region on the face of the Earth, and a tourism oriented region. The 20 % of GBians were affiliated with tourism sector, but now it is in the dark for a long time. Now International Tourism is totally halted because of war on terror in Pakistan and rest of its remote areas.
Agriculture is a helpful and developmental economic source of Gilgit Baltistan. Now, Non-government organization (NGOs) train farmers about farming and food processing. It has created positive thinking to produce quality of fruits, dry fruits and crops. GB fruits and organic food has been introduced internationally and nationally by some of the renowned international agencies. On the other hand the GB chamber of commerce is full of unskilled human resource.
Today in the era of technological advancement and scientific growth, a region which many intellectuals call it the ‘end of the world’ and some call it the ‘last colony’ is indeed a matter of concern to the inhabitants of GB. Today, Islamabad ignored every inch of land of GB, they call us fifth province of GB; but still we don’t have a single person in the Legislation of Pakistan. They sign MOU’s with China but none of our responsible person has a right to become part of it.
Referring to the above sentiments, economy is the root of the nation, so we have to think optimistically about our weaknesses. As compared to the countryside areas, we have not enough opportunities in agricultural sector. We should think about safe future and fundamental needs of the water, food and shelter. And there is a dire need of devising effective economy oriented plans.
