A collaborative platform for sharing knowledge, ideas and innovative solutions to foster sustainable development in Gilgit-Baltistan, with a special focus on empowering the people of Hunza. Join us in shaping a brighter future through dialogue, education and community-driven initiatives.
Strategic Mineral Development in Gilgit-Baltistan: A Pathway to Sustainable Growth and Regional Stability
Date:22 May 2025
Author: Hisamullah Beg
Executive Summary:
Gilgit-Baltistan (GB), a geopolitically sensitive region of Pakistan, holds vast reserves of precious and strategic minerals including gold, copper, lithium, and rare earth elements. As global demand surges—especially for green and digital technologies—international and domestic actors are increasingly eyeing GB’s resources. However, weak regulatory frameworks, environmental fragility, and local disenfranchisement pose serious risks. This policy brief outlines key challenges and recommends actionable steps for the Government of Pakistan and GB authorities to ensure mineral development is transparent, sustainable, and locally beneficial.
Key Issues:
Weak Institutional Oversight
GB lacks a comprehensive legal and institutional framework to regulate exploration, licensing, and revenue distribution, leaving it vulnerable to exploitation.
Marginalisation of Local Communities
Resource-related decisions are often made without meaningful consultation or participation of local stakeholders, leading to distrust and potential unrest.
Environmental Vulnerability
The region's mountainous terrain and glacial systems are highly sensitive to mining-induced deforestation, water pollution, and seismic disruption.
Geopolitical and Security Concerns
Bordering China and India, GB is strategically critical. Unregulated foreign investment or illicit mining could inflame regional tensions or fuel insurgencies.
Future Implications:
Economic Opportunity vs. Resource Curse: GB could either benefit from mineral-led development or suffer from the classic “resource curse” if governance remains weak.
Increased Strategic Interest: China’s involvement through CPEC (China-Pakistan Economic Corridor) may deepen, requiring careful management of sovereignty and local rights.
Climate and Ecological Threats: Unsustainable mining may accelerate glacial melt, increase landslide risk, and degrade key water sources for downstream populations.
Policy Recommendations:
Establish a Gilgit-Baltistan Mineral Authority (GBMA)
Create a regional body to license, regulate, and monitor mining with clear transparency mandates.
Include local representation and technical experts in decision-making.
Enact a Regional Mining Policy
Define legal frameworks for royalties, community benefit-sharing, and environmental standards.
Align with Pakistan’s federal mineral laws but reflect GB’s unique socio-political context.
Ensure Free, Prior, and Informed Consent (FPIC)
Institutionalise community consultations before granting exploration or mining rights.
Offer revenue-sharing mechanisms, local employment quotas, and resettlement safeguards.
Invest in Environmental and Geological Research
Map ecologically sensitive zones and restrict mining in high-risk areas.
Fund local universities and NGOs for continuous environmental monitoring.
Leverage Regional Diplomacy and CPEC Safeguards
Ensure Chinese and other foreign investments respect Pakistan’s environmental laws and GB’s autonomy.
Negotiate local content requirements and tech-transfer agreements.
Conclusion:
Gilgit-Baltistan stands at a mineral crossroads. With prudent governance, participatory planning, and ecological safeguards, it can transform its natural wealth into a catalyst for sustainable growth, regional stability, and national development. Ignoring these imperatives, however, risks repeating the historical patterns of extraction without developing Indigenous human resources.
Memphis Barker from The Telegraph wrote about how Pakistan shot down Indian jets during the recent conflict. The article's access requires a paid subscription so here is an excerpt:
"At 4:00 a.m., something extraordinary happened—not on the battlefield, but in the diplomatic shadows. China’s ambassador to Pakistan reportedly made an urgent call to Rawalpindi. Within hours, a long-prepared contingency went live. What followed wasn’t just an air skirmish—it was a revelation that shattered the myth of India’s air dominance.
The Indian Air Force had been assembling for days—nearly 180 aircraft concentrated on the western front. The goal was clear: repeat Balakot, break Pakistani defenses, and restore the image of strategic supremacy.
But the skies were no longer the same.
Why They Stayed 300 km Away
The Indian Air Force never crossed the threshold. They knew what waited for them beyond it:
Chinese J-10C fighters, sleek and silent PL-15 missiles, Mach 5 hunters with over 300 km range Erieye radars, linking every shooter into a single deadly nervous system What India saw was not just Pakistani pilots—it was China’s entire air warfare doctrine stretching from Skardu to Pasni.
And the Rafales? They never saw it coming.
One Rafale—valued at over $250 million—was reportedly shot down mid-air. Another barely made it back. The Spectra EW system, designed to protect it, was overwhelmed. The PL-15 didn’t come with radar—it came with AI-guided silence.
This wasn’t a dogfight. It was an ambush.
The Pakistani Air Force, aided by Chinese targeting satellites and AWACS, executed a sensor-fusion kill. The Rafales never got a lock, never even saw their adversary. When the missiles hit, it was already over.
And India knew: if one Rafale can fall, so can five. That’s why the fleet was grounded. That’s why they stay 300 km away from the border. Not because they lack courage—but because they now lack certainty.
Strategic Embarrassment
The implications are enormous. India’s prestige weapon, the Rafale, fell to a Chinese missile fired by a Pakistani jet. That’s not just a tactical failure—it’s a geopolitical message.
Even Bloomberg wrote it: this is a live demonstration of Chinese-Pakistani integrated warfare. Western analysts are stunned. French defense contracts are rattled. China, meanwhile, is watching quietly… and smiling.
The Game Has Changed
This isn’t 2019. This isn’t Balakot.
India now knows that any venture into Pakistani airspace invites a death trap orchestrated by J-10Cs, PL-15s, and Pakistani resolve.
So they stay back. Grounded by fear. Blinded by radar. And humiliated by silence.
“The Indian pilot didn’t fail from lack of skill. He failed inside a battlefield he couldn’t see— built by satellites, linked by sensors, and executed by machines.”
In May 2025, the game changed. India’s long-nurtured dream of aerial supremacy—anchored in the purchase of 36 Rafale jets, backed by the mythical Spectra EW suite and decades of French engineering—came crashing down over Kashmir.
It wasn’t a dogfight. It wasn’t even a fair fight.
It was a doctrinal collapse, witnessed in real time by every military strategist across the globe.
The #Rafale was supposed to be untouchable. Its technology, unmatched. Its pilots, elite. But on that fateful day, it flew into a kill box it never saw. And never escaped.
The Lethal Kill Chain
China quietly stepped in—not in the way most Western analysts imagined. There were no J-20s or war declarations. There was a box. A network. A silent chain of observation and execution:
Saab Erieye AWACS patrolling silently J-10C fighters flying in passive mode PL-15E missiles—the export PL-15E, the domestic variant with over 300 km reach and Mach 5 speed—locked in and fired The Rafale didn’t even know it was targeted until the missile was 50 km away.
At that speed, the Indian pilot had 9 seconds. Not enough to react. Not enough to survive.
Why the IAF Is Grounded
You don’t see the Indian Air Force over Kashmir anymore.
Why?
Because every time a fighter lifts off, Pakistani radars pick it up. Because the Erieye sees what Indian radars can’t. Because the PL-15 launches from outside Rafale’s threat envelope. Because the Rafale, once India’s silver bullet, has been turned into a $250 million sitting duck.
The IAF now flies 300 km behind its own borders. Balakot 2.0? It will not happen. Not in this sky.
Because the battlefield was not decided in a dogfight. It was decided by C4ISR supremacy—Command, Control, Communication, Computers, Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance.
Pakistan did not outgun India. It out-networked it.
And India, stunned, grounded its birds.
India’s Pain, Pakistan’s Message
India invested in platforms. Pakistan invested in kill chains.
Modi’s doctrine was: buy dominance. Reality proved: you must build dominance.
No Spectra system can counter a missile it never detects. No EW suite can spoof a missile fed by satellite data. No fighter jet can outrun the death it doesn’t see coming.
The sky has changed.
This is not the end of air combat. It is the beginning of silent, invisible, unanswerable air dominance."
Cybersecurity encompasses a wide array of practices, technologies, processes, and strategies aimed at protecting computer systems, networks, programs, and data from digital attacks, damage, or unauthorized access. Its goal is to ensure the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of information and information systems.
Here's a breakdown of what's included in cybersecurity:
Core Domains of Cybersecurity:
Network Security: This involves securing network infrastructure (routers, firewalls, switches) and the data transmitted across networks. It includes measures to prevent unauthorized access, misuse, or disruption of the network. Key technologies include firewalls, intrusion detection and prevention systems (IDS/IPS), and virtual private networks (VPNs).
Application Security: Focuses on protecting software applications from threats throughout their lifecycle, from design and development to deployment and maintenance. This includes finding and fixing vulnerabilities in code, and implementing security measures like input validation and secure coding practices.
Information Security (InfoSec) / Data Security: This is concerned with protecting the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of data, whether it's stored, in transit, or being processed. It involves practices like data encryption, data loss prevention (DLP), access controls, and data backup and recovery.
Cloud Security: Addresses the security challenges related to cloud computing environments. This includes protecting data, applications, and infrastructure hosted in the cloud. It often involves a shared responsibility model between the cloud provider and the customer.
Endpoint Security: Focuses on securing end-user devices like desktops, laptops, smartphones, and tablets. These devices are common entry points for cyber threats. Solutions include antivirus/anti-malware software, endpoint detection and response (EDR), and mobile device management (MDM).
Mobile Security: A specialized area of endpoint security that deals with the unique threats and vulnerabilities associated with smartphones and tablets. This includes protecting against malicious apps, securing mobile communications, and managing device access to corporate data.
Internet of Things (IoT) Security: Addresses the security of interconnected smart devices, which can range from household appliances to industrial sensors. IoT devices often have limited security capabilities and can be vulnerable to attacks.
Critical Infrastructure Security: Focuses on protecting the computer systems, networks, and digital assets that are essential for the functioning of a society and economy, such as energy grids, water supply systems, transportation networks, and healthcare services.
Identity and Access Management (IAM): This involves managing digital identities and controlling who has access to what resources. Key components include authentication (verifying identity, often using multi-factor authentication - MFA) and authorization (granting appropriate permissions).
Key Concepts and Practices:
CIA Triad: A foundational model in information security guiding policies.
Confidentiality: Ensuring that information is not disclosed to unauthorized individuals, entities, or processes.
Integrity: Maintaining the accuracy and completeness of data over its entire lifecycle.
Availability: Ensuring that information and resources are accessible to authorized users when needed.
Risk Assessment and Management: Identifying potential threats and vulnerabilities, evaluating the likelihood and impact of those risks, and implementing measures to mitigate them.1
Vulnerability Management: The ongoing process of identifying, evaluating, treating, and reporting on security vulnerabilities in systems and the software that runs on them.2
Incident Response: Having a plan and procedures in place to detect, respond to, and recover from cybersecurity incidents such as data breaches or cyberattacks.
Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity Planning (DR/BCP): Preparing for and recovering from disruptive events (including cyberattacks) to ensure that essential business functions can continue or be resumed quickly.
Security Awareness Training: Educating employees and users about cybersecurity threats, best practices, and company policies to reduce human error, which is a leading cause of breaches.
Encryption: Converting data into a coded format to prevent unauthorized access.
Zero Trust Architecture: A security model based on the principle of "never trust, always verify." It requires strict identity verification for every person and device trying to access resources on a3 private network, regardless of whether they are sitting within or outside of the network perimeter.4
Operational Security (OpSec): A process that identifies critical information to determine if friendly actions can be observed by adversaries, determines if information obtained by adversaries could be interpreted to be useful to them, and then executes selected measures that eliminate or reduce adversary exploitation of friendly critical information.5
Security Policies and Compliance: Establishing and enforcing security rules and procedures, and adhering to relevant laws, regulations, and industry standards (e.g., GDPR, HIPAA, PCI DSS).
Common Cyber Threats:
Cybersecurity aims to protect against a multitude of threats, including:
Malware: Malicious software designed to harm or exploit any programmable device, service or network. This includes viruses, worms, trojans,6 ransomware, spyware, and adware.
Phishing: Deceptive attempts to acquire sensitive information like usernames, passwords, and credit card details by masquerading as a trustworthy entity in an electronic communication.7
Social Engineering: Manipulating individuals into performing actions or divulging confidential information.
Denial-of-Service (DoS) and Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) Attacks: Overwhelming a system's resources to make it unavailable to legitimate users.
Advanced Persistent Threats (APTs): Prolonged and targeted cyberattacks where an intruder gains unauthorized access to a network and remains undetected for an extended period.8
Insider Threats: Security risks originating from within the targeted organization, often from employees or former employees, contractors, or business associates who have inside information concerning the organization's security practices, data, and computer systems.9
Emerging Areas:
AI in Cybersecurity: Utilizing artificial intelligence and machine learning to detect and respond to threats more effectively and efficiently.
Security for AI: Protecting AI systems themselves from attacks, such as data poisoning or model manipulation.
Processes and Roles:
Cybersecurity also involves various processes and specialized roles, including:
Security Operations (SecOps): The team responsible for monitoring and analyzing an organization's security posture on an ongoing basis and responding to security incidents.
Penetration Testing (Ethical Hacking): Authorized simulated cyberattacks on computer systems, performed to evaluate the security of the system.
Digital Forensics: The process of identifying, preserving, analyzing, and documenting digital evidence related to a security incident.
Security Audits: Independent reviews and examinations of an organization's security policies, procedures, and controls.
Governance, Risk, and Compliance (GRC): An integrated approach to ensure that an organization's IT activities support its business objectives, manage risks effectively, and comply with relevant regulations.
In essence, cybersecurity is a multifaceted and constantly evolving field that is critical for protecting digital assets and ensuring the safe and reliable operation of technology in today's interconnected world.
Posts
