Got you with the title...
Today is quite a historic day for Gilgitis, as today our forefathers drove the occupying forces out and liberated Gilgit Baltistan on ! November 1947 . 15 days later acceding to Pakistan. Thought i'd add this to your knowledge...
Images will come through, will post it every now and then..
and add by Pakistan government
in K2(look at the bottom of the page):
Daily K2
Huge credit goes to GB scouts, which is now part of NLI(northern light infantry) and is doing a great job in keeping law and order in the region.
In details:
The entire north-west of the Indian sub-continent was, in the autumn of 1947, aflame with communal riots. In October 1947, the disturbances spread to the State of Jammu and Kashmir also. The Gilgit area of the state had an overwhelmingly Muslim population, made up of turbulent hill-men. The position was complicated by the existence of the semi-feudal principalities of Chitral, Hunza, Nagar etc which had been brought under Dogra rule in the 19th Century.
In July 1947, Gilgit was still being administered by the Government of India, to whom it had been made over by the State Government on lease for 60 years. The departure of the British from India being imminent. Colonel Roger Bacon, then Political Agent in Gilgit, that the Viceroy Lord Mountbatten, had decided (for reasons which were not clear to Bacon and which are still not clear) that the 1935 British lease of the Gilgit Agency fiom the Maharaja of Jammu & Kashmir (a lease which still had 49 years to run) was going to be terminated and that the Agency, with a 99% Muslim population, was going to be returned to the Hindu rule of the Dogra Maharaja Sir Hari Singh. Late in July 1947, the State Government appointed Brig Ghansara Singh, one of the most senior officers of the State's Force, to be the Governor of Gilgit. He flew to Gilgit on 30 July 1947 and took over the administration from Lt Col Bacon, the British Political Agent, on 01 August 1947.
Of the subordinate chiefs under the Governor of Gilgit, namely, the Mir of Hunza, the Mir of Nagar, the Raja of Punial, and the chieftains of Koh Ghizar, Yasin, and Ashkoman, only the Mirs of Hunza and Nagar were hostile.
Their hostility proved very damaging, for three-fourths of the men of the Gilgit Scouts came from Hunza and Nagar.
The two British officers of the Gilgit Scouts whose services had been retained by the State, namely Major WA Brown and Captain Matheson, proved themselves inveterately hostile to Jammu & Kashmir State and took the leading part in the pro-Pakistan treachery at Gilgit. The predominantly Muslim civil employees of the Government of Gilgit were also pro-Pakistan and they backed the demands of the Scouts for special rates of pay and other concessions for serving the Jammu & Kashmir State soon after Brig Ghansara Singh took over charge.
It should be noted, however, that the Gilgit Scouts and the local people were still free from the violent communal passions then sweeping through the Punjab and did not favor killing or converting by force the non-Muslims at Gilgit.
Not the State's own Muslim troops. Gilgit area was garrisoned by 6 J&K Infantry, less than two companies with Headquarters at Bunji, about 54 kms from Gilgit on the road to Srinagar. Commanded by Lt. Col Abdul Majid Khan, the battalion was composed of Muslims and Sikhs in almost equal proportions. The Sikhs, according to the Commanding Officer, were raw recruits and were not fit for active duty for the next 5-6 months, till they had fired their musketry course. The Muslim companies had men from Punch and they having heard all about the horrible communal killings in Punjab, were in a violently communal frame of mind.
Wild rumors raged in Gilgit in the last week of October when the tribal invasion of Kashmir began. The common people remained friendly, but there was clear evidence that Major Brown and Sub Major Babar Khan of the Scouts were planning some trouble. Some locals advised the Governor to call up 6 J&K Infantry from Bunji, but Brig Ghansara Singh realized that State Force's Muslim men were as disaffected as and more violent than the Scouts. The Sikhs of 6 J&K Infantry could not be called up due to the opposition of Lt. Col Abdul Majid Khan, the Commanding Officer.
At about midnight between 31 October-1 November 1947, about 100 men of the Gilgit Scouts, led by Major Brown, Lieut Haidar Khan and Sub Major Babar Khan, surrounded the Governor's house and tried to steal in to capture him in sleep. He woke up, however, and started using his revolver, backed up by his orderly and driver who were handed a double-barrel shotgun and a sporting rifle.
The Scouts then opened machine gun fire on the house. Exchange of fire went on for several hours, and two men of the Gilgit Scouts were killed. The following morning the governor had no choice but to surrender, the Governor surrendered and was put under arrest.
The local people protested against this, and villagers from the surrounding areas began to gather in Gilgit. The Scouts' leaders managed  to pacify them and sent them away, but probably this demonstration of the people's affection saved the Governor and other non-Muslims from being murdered in cold blood. Lt Col Abdul Majid Khan, the CO of 6 J&K Infantry, was also imprisoned by the Gilgit Scouts and their British officers.
The entire Gilgit region passed into the hands of Pakistan early in November 1947. At first a provisional Government was formed, of which the leaders were Major Brown, Captain Hassan, Captain Ehsan Ali, Captain Muhammad Khan, Captain Sayeed, Lieut Haidar, and Sub Major Babar Khan.
On 3 November 1947, Major Brown held a flag hoisting ceremony at Gilgit in the Socut Lines. After about a fortnight, one Sardar Mohammad Alam, a Pathan and obviously a nominee of Pakistan, came from Peshawar and took over the administration as Political Agent at Gilgit.
A government was set up-which decided to acceded to Pakistan, in accordance to the will of the people. Mirs signed similar accession paper and were telegraphed to Pakistani representative, who accepted this accession.
In more details here:
How Gilgit-Baltistan got liberated .
@Neutron ,
@Slav Defence ,
@Icarus ,
@haviZsultan ,
@Bratva ....
....i saw the thread couldn't respond as was caught up with few things at work.....
