Gilgit, July 21: June 22, 2013 – the brutal killing of ten foreign climbers at a base camp of Nanga Parbat by Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP)'s Junud-e-Hafsa faction is still fresh in everyone's memory. The incident in Diamer district of Gilgit-Baltistan raised an alarm over the growing Taliban control in the region. The people of Gilgit Baltistan are stunned by rising incidents of violence perpetrated by the Taliban. Earlier, armed extremists also massacred Shia bus passengers in Chilas and Kohistan to create sectarian strife in Gilgit Baltistan. Gilgit Baltistan is predominantly a Shia majority region. However, sectarianism was cultivated by Pakistan in the late 1980s as a negative force to change the demographic reality of Gilgit Baltistan. Pakistan, which has forced a colonial system in the region, is encouraging Sunnis from outside to settle here and fuel sectarian strife.
