Balawaristan

Balawaristan (Urdu: بلاورستان, lit. 'Land of heights'), 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.^[1]^[2]^[3]

BNF activists affirm that Balawaristan is not a part of Kashmir and has a unique identity. They also consider the people of Gilgit Baltistan to be the fourth party in the Kashmir dispute, the other three being Pakistan, India and Kashmir.^[2]^[4]

Etymology

A map of Balawaristan, and its three regions

Historically, the Baltistan region was called "Great Bolor" and Dardistan and parts of Brooshal (e.g. Gilgit Valley) were called "Little Bolor.^[3] Great Boloristan is known to have sent ambassadors to the Chinese court in the 8th century.^[3] The Mons, an Indo-Aryan group, made the region as a hub of Buddhism.

Chinese historian Faxian mentioned it as Pololo or Palolo, Tibetans called it Nang-khod, where Arab historians mentioned it as Baloristan. The people of this region though belonging to various ethnicities, have historically been referred to as Balors, which means the highlanders or mountain people, a reference to the high-altitudes prevalent in this area. An alternative theory links the name to a mythic ancient king called Bolor Shah, who had first united the region and from whom local rulers in turn often claimed descent.

Political status movements

In more recent times, the name Balawaristan is found used by Gilgiti political party like Balawaristan National Front led by Nawaz Khan Naji. The party is seeking to declare Gilgit-Baltistan as the fifth province of Pakistan.^[5] The party has been represented in the Gilgit-Baltistan Legislative Assembly by a single member, the aforementioned Nawaz Khan Naji, since 2011.^[6]

The Balawaristan National Students Organisation, in April 2008, raised a demand for Balawaristan to be constituted into the fifth province of Pakistan.^[7]

References

^ Dad (2016), pp. 10–11.
^ ^a ^b Bodla (2014), pp. 125–139.
^ ^a ^b ^c Jettmar, Karl (1977). "Bolor: A Contribution to the Political and Ethnic Geography of North Pakistan". Zentralasiatische Studien. University of Heidelberg: 1–37. OCLC 236125728. The eastern half, Great Bolor, could afford to send several embassies to the Chinese court during the first half of the 8th century
^ Yusufzai, Arshad (February 10, 2019). "Contested status". The News on Sunday. Retrieved April 30, 2021.
^ Ali, Manzoor (29 April 2011). "Gilgit-Baltistan shocker: Nationalist candidate wins Ghizer by-poll". The Express Tribune. Retrieved May 31, 2012. Naji said that the federal government should declare Gilgit-Baltistan a province of Pakistan, give its people representation in the National Assembly and Senate, and extend the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court to the region
^ "Nawaz Khan Naji wins G-B by-elections". The Express Tribune. 29 April 2011. Archived from the original on 22 March 2016. Retrieved 18 November 2020. Nawaz Khan Naji from the Balawarastan National Front won the Gilgit-Baltistan Legislative Assembly by-elections in the L-A 19 constituency of Ghazar on Friday.
^ "Provincial status sought for Gilgit, Baltistan". Daily Dawn. May 1, 2008. Retrieved January 24, 2009. Historically, geographically and politically, Gilgit-Baltistan deserves to be a province. The people of the region should have the right to send their representatives to the National Assembly and Senate of Pakistan, of which they have been deprived for the last 60 years, said speakers at a seminar organised by the Balawaristan National Students Organisation here.

Bibliography

Sökefeld, Martin (1999). "Balawaristan and Other Imaginations: A Nationalist Discourse in the Northern Areas of Pakistan" (PDF). In van Beek, Martijn; Bertelsen, Kristoffer Brix; Pedersen, Poul (eds.). Ladakh: Culture, History, and Development Between Himalaya and Karakoram. Aarhus: Aarhus University Press. pp. 350–368. ISBN 978-81207-2210-1.
Bodla, Sohaib (2014). "Making a Nation in High Mountains: Balawars and Balawaristan Nationalism in Ghizer District of Gilgit Baltistan" (PDF). Ethnoscripts. 16 (1). University of Hamburg: 125–139. ISSN 2199-7942.
Dad, Aziz Ali (2016). Baldauf, Ingeborg; Conermann, Stephan; Kreutzmann, Hermann; Nadjmabadi, Shahnaz; Reetz, Dietrich; Schetter, Conrad; Sökefeld, Martin; Bech Hansen, Claus Erik; Hornidge, Anna-Katharina; Mielke, Katja; Nokkala, Nelli (eds.). "Boundaries and Identities: The Case of Gilgit-Baltistan" (PDF). Crossroads Asia Working Papers Series (34). Department of Political and Cultural Change, University of Bonn. ISSN 2192-6034. OCLC 1186074593.
Sökefeld, Martin (2012). "Secularism and the Kashmir dispute". In Nils Ole Bubandt; Martijn Van Beek (eds.). Varieties of Secularism in Asia: Anthropological Explorations of Religion, Politics and the Spiritual. Routledge. pp. 101–120. ISBN 978-1-136-66864-7.