WHILE India has been extremely sensitive about being seen to be getting involved in Pakistan's internal affairs, a number of political groups in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) have now been openly seeking New Delhi's help in their fight against what they describe as their persecution by Islamabad.

Their argument is simple. Officially, India continues to consider the whole of Kashmir, including the areas under Pakistan control, as its own territory and therefore it becomes its duty to protect them against a foreign aggressor, which is how they describe Pakistan.

A motley group of these political leaders and intellectuals from areas around Gilgit and Baltistan in PoK, referred to as Northern Areas by Pakistan, assembled in New Delhi to participate in a two-day international seminar on 'Society, Culture and Politics in the Karakoram Himalayas' that was dominated by tales of discrimination and persecution of the people in these areas at the hands of Pakistan's civilian and military establishment.

"I am surprised that India has no concern about what is happening in Gilgit and Baltistan. Pakistan has been openly supporting and encouraging militants in Indian Kashmir and New Delhi doesn't even want to keep contact with areas that are officially still a part of its own territory," said Abdul Hamid Khan, chairman of Balawaristan National Front, a political party whose objective is to gain independence from Pakistan. Balawaristan is the historic name for Northern Areas.

Khan, like most other political leaders from the region, lives in exile in Europe. He said the Indian position was even more surprising considering the fact that most political formations in the area were now open to a merger with India.

"Even an independent Balawaristan is in larger interest of India as it would not support terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir," he said.

Shaukat Kashmiri, leader of the United Kashmir National People's Party, one of the largest political formations in the region, also spoke about a reunification with India. His party had started out as Jammu and Kashmir National People's Party in 1985, but changed its name in 1993 to stress the pan-Kashmiri nature of the organisation.

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