Gilgit Agency
| Gilgit Agency گلگت ایجنسی (Urdu) | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Agency | |||||||||
| 1889–1974 | |||||||||
The Gilgit Agency at the northern periphery of Jammu and Kashmir (1946) | |||||||||
| History | |||||||||
| 1889 | |||||||||
• Gilgit Wazarat leased | 26 March 1935 | ||||||||
• Lease terminated | 30 July 1947 | ||||||||
• Gilgit rebellion | 1 November 1947 | ||||||||
| 19 November 1947 | |||||||||
• Merged into Northern Areas | 1974 | ||||||||
| |||||||||
| "A collection of treaties, engagements, and sunnuds relating to India and neighbouring countries" | |||||||||
The Gilgit Agency (Urdu: گلگت ایجنسی) was an agency within the British Indian Empire. It encompassed the Gilgit tehsil of the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir, the states of Hunza and Nagar, the governorships of Yasin, Koh-i-Ghizer, Ishkoman, Punial and the tribal areas of Gor, Darel, Tangir and the district of Chilas. The agency headquarters was based in the town of Gilgit, within the Gilgit tehsil of Jammu and Kashmir.
Gilgit Agency was bounded in the west by the Chitral State, in the northwest by Afghanistan's Wakhan corridor, in the east by Chinese Turkestan, in the south by the Kashmir province, and in the southeast by the Ladakh wazarat of Jammu and Kashmir (which included Baltistan).
The primary objective of establishing the Gilgit Agency was to bolster and fortify these regions, particularly in the context of concerns about Russian encroachment in the area. An Officer on Special Duty was established in 1877 in the town of Gilgit till 1882 to monitor the Baroghil and Ishkoman passes. After seven years a permanent Political Agent in 1889 was established. In 1935, the Gilgit tehsil of the princely state was leased from the Maharaja, which also came under the administration of the Political Agent. The Astore tehsil continued to be under the Maharaja's administration. On 1 July 1947, shortly before the partition of India, not only was the Gilgit Leased Area retroceded to the Maharaja but the whole of Gilgit Agency was handed over to the Dogras.
The Gilgit Scouts, who were hopeful of Jammu and Kashmir state acceding to Pakistan staged a rebellion at the news of the accession of Jammu and Kashmir to India on 26 October 1947. The Gilgit Scouts, led by Major William Brown, took the Dogra governor into protective custody on 1 November 1947 and raised the Pakistan flag on 2 November in Gilgit. Hunza and Nagar states had by then already sent in their accession letters addressed to Muhammad Ali Jinnah. Pakistan sent in a Political Agent on 16 November who took over the administration of the areas thereafter.
Under the Pakistani administration, the Gilgit, Astore, and Skardu (Baltistan) tehsils, as well as the principalities previously under the agency, were clubbed together under the name of "Gilgit Agency". The unit remained in existence till 1974, after which it was abolished by the Pakistani Prime Minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto and turned into the Federally Administered Northern Areas (later renamed to "Gilgit-Baltistan").
While India continues to claim the entire region of Gilgit-Baltistan as part of the union territory of Ladakh, Pakistan's stand is that a plebiscite as per UN resolution be held in the territories referred to as Jammu & Kashmir.