In a tumultuous week for Pakistan’s north, two crises have erupted in parallel—one marked by fierce counterterrorism operations in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the other by mass civil unrest in Gilgit-Baltistan. Both events shine a harsh light on the country’s struggle to maintain order and legitimacy in its border regions, raising questions about rights, representation, and the cost of security-first governance.
On Monday, November 24, 2025, Pakistan’s security forces launched a sweeping intelligence-based operation in Bannu district, located in the restive Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. According to the Pakistani army, the mission targeted members of the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), a group long branded as terrorists by the state. The army described the militants as ‘khawarij’—a term it uses for TTP fighters—and reported that, after an intense exchange of fire, 22 militants were killed. "During the operation, the troops effectively engaged the ‘khawarij’ location and after an intense fire exchange, 22 khawarij were killed," stated the military, as reported by Mid-day.
Following the firefight, Pakistani authorities initiated a sanitisation operation to root out any remaining militants in the area. The operation underscores the ongoing volatility in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, a region bordering Afghanistan that has often found itself at the epicenter of Pakistan’s internal conflict with militant groups.
But the fallout from this operation did not stop at Pakistan’s borders. On Tuesday, November 25, Afghanistan’s Taliban government publicly accused Pakistan of launching overnight airstrikes in three eastern Afghan provinces. According to Zabihullah Mujahid, the chief spokesperson for the Taliban government, the strikes killed ten civilians, including nine children and a woman, in Khost province. Additional strikes in Kunar and Paktika provinces reportedly left four more injured. The Afghan authorities condemned the attacks, alleging that Pakistan had "bombed" the home of a civilian. These cross-border tensions, reported by Mid-day, add yet another layer of complexity to the already fraught security dynamics between the two neighbors.
While the military campaign against the TTP dominated headlines in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan’s northernmost region—Gilgit-Baltistan—was convulsed by a very different kind of turmoil. On November 26, 2025, mass protests erupted across Gilgit, Skardu, Ghizer, Darel, and Hunza. The demonstrators, a coalition of traders, student groups, and civil society activists, voiced a litany of grievances: surging wheat prices, dwindling subsidised supplies, and electricity outages that have stretched up to 20 hours a day in the harsh winter months.
Residents, frustrated by the irony of enduring blackouts in a region famed for its hydropower resources, have also accused Islamabad of treating Gilgit-Baltistan as a colony. According to The Times of India, locals allege that land has been appropriated for dams, road corridors, and federal projects linked to the China–Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) without fair compensation or meaningful consultation. Community elders argue that their mountains, rivers, and valleys are treated as federal property, with locals denied any share of royalties from the mega-projects executed on their soil.
Underlying these economic and resource-based grievances is a deeper constitutional crisis. Unlike Pakistan’s four provinces, Gilgit-Baltistan is not covered by the country’s Constitution and lacks representation in the National Assembly or Senate. Instead, the region is governed through ad-hoc orders issued from Islamabad, with key powers resting in the hands of the federal Ministry of Kashmir Affairs and senior officers often deputed from outside the region. Legal experts and human-rights organizations have long pointed out that Gilgit-Baltistan’s residents cannot approach the Supreme Court of Pakistan as full citizens can, creating what many describe as a constitutional vacuum.
The strategic significance of Gilgit-Baltistan only heightens the stakes. The region forms the northern gateway to CPEC, linking China’s Xinjiang province to the Karakoram Highway and, ultimately, to Pakistan’s heartland. Its proximity to India’s northern frontier adds another layer of geopolitical sensitivity. India, for its part, maintains that Gilgit-Baltistan is part of the Union Territory of Jammu & Kashmir under the 1947 Instrument of Accession, and has consistently objected to Chinese-backed projects passing through the area. According to The Times of India, India regards Pakistani activities in Gilgit-Baltistan as violations of its sovereignty.
Islamabad’s response to the protests has been uncompromising. Reports from the ground detail a surge in paramilitary deployments, particularly the Rangers, in towns where demonstrations have been most frequent. Activists associated with rights campaigns and student bodies have been detained under stringent security laws, with families alleging that cases are being fabricated to deter further mobilization. Journalists, too, have reported pressure; media professionals say they have been warned against covering rallies or criticizing federal policies. Human-rights groups outside Pakistan have documented patterns of arbitrary detention, enforced disappearances, and intimidation of those demanding autonomy, ownership rights, or constitutional integration.
“The current situation is the outcome of years of centralised rule that has kept the region politically voiceless while exploiting its strategic and economic value,” observed analysts cited by The Times of India. The persistence of protests, despite detentions and a heavy security presence, suggests that discontent in Gilgit-Baltistan is deep-rooted. Local groups insist they are no longer willing to accept a system where decisions about their future are made in Islamabad without their participation.
As Pakistan grapples with economic pressures and internal political churn, the unrest in Gilgit-Baltistan adds another front that Islamabad will find increasingly difficult to ignore. The state’s instinct, thus far, has been to double down on force and control. But the people on the streets are demanding something altogether different: rights, representation, and an end to what they see as decades of unequal and exploitative rule.
Back in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the military’s ongoing sanitisation operation is a reminder of the ever-present threat posed by militant groups like the TTP. Yet, the cross-border allegations from Afghanistan risk inflaming an already precarious relationship, raising the specter of further violence and instability in the region.
The events of this week underscore the delicate balance Pakistan must strike between security and legitimacy, force and dialogue, central control and local rights. As the dust settles in Bannu and the streets of Gilgit-Baltistan remain restless, the country faces hard choices about how to govern its most sensitive frontiers—and whether it can do so with the consent, rather than the coercion, of its people.
