In August 2025, a number of protests broke out throughout Pakistan-occupied Gilgit-Baltistan (PoGB), with police officers, attorneys, and locals all participating and expressing grave complaints about administrative, judicial, and economic problems.
For several days, the PoGB police have been demonstrating by staging a sit-in outside the Chief Minister’s House, requesting that their daily stipend be increased in line with the 2025–2026 budget, which doubled their stipend from PKR 440 to PKR 880. But as of yet, no formal announcement enforcing the increase has been made.
For months, police officers, including those from other districts and those sent to Chilas to protect Chinese citizens, have been fighting for these rights. The protests continued in spite of the government’s earlier promise to resolve their issues within 14 days. In contrast, disciplinary actions were taken against police officers who were alleged to have engaged in wrongdoing; as a result, 63 officials were fired in the first phase as determined by a disciplinary commission.
In several districts, including Gilgit, Skardu, and Ghizer, legal associations from all over the region, including the Supreme Court Bar Association GB, High Court Bar Association GB, Gilgit-Baltistan Bar Council, and District Bar Association Gilgit, coordinated demonstrations and boycotted court proceedings at the same time. In particular, they are calling for the appointment of judges to fill open seats in the GB Supreme Appellate Court, which has been operating with only one judge for the last seven years, resulting in a backlog of thousands of cases. Their ten-year agitation is focused on important judicial reforms and rights.
In order to protect their safety and professional rights, the attorneys also demand that PoGB be included in the Lawyers Protection Act. They also insist that open civil judge posts be advertised and that judicial magistrate and civil judge responsibilities be kept distinct, with legal professionals’ merits being the basis for nomination. The lawyers referred to this delay as “a conspiracy against the people of PoGB” and voiced their deep displeasure with the government’s refusal to comply with their demands in spite of numerous strikes and rallies.
By blocking portions of the Karakoram Highway (KKH), particularly in Sikandarabad, Nagar, and Nagar Khas, locals also demonstrated against power outages. Among their complaints, the protesters pointed to ongoing power shortages.
In the Sost Port region, merchants and locals had demonstrated earlier in August against illegal income and sales tax laws enforced by federal officials without local representation. Due to the region’s unclear constitutional status, these protesters called for the abolition of these levies, which they believed to be unconstitutional.
They also objected to the port’s evacuation of outdated cars and claimed corruption among local and customs authorities. Protesters framed their fight as essential to their rights and dignity and threatened to escalate tensions if their demands were not met. Trade between PoGB and China via the Khunjerab Pass has been disrupted by the demonstrations; local business has been impacted by consignments that are stuck at Sost Dry Port. Leaders of protests have vehemently denounced the region’s decades-long political and economic neglect and called for a fair portion of tax income to support local development.
Economic hardships, administrative neglect, a lack of judicial infrastructure, and demands for political and constitutional rights are thus the main causes of the widespread protests throughout PoGB, underscoring the profound difficulties that the region’s law enforcement, legal community, traders, and citizens all face.
