The colonial administration controlling Gilgit-Baltistan has declared local hotels in Hunza a security threat to tourists, using guidelines developed by NACTA for urban hotels in Islamabad. Gilgit-Baltistan remains a disputed territory and is not constitutionally a part of Pakistan, yet the non-local administration is imposing restrictions on local hotels with two main objectives:
- To
hand over the entire region of Hunza to security agencies under the
guise of safety, thereby paving the way for SIFC by creating a
climate of fear and control.
- To label local hotels as "risky" in order to create space for large, non-local hotel chains, ultimately allowing private enterprises like Green Tourism Pvt. Ltd. to dominate the local tourism sector in alliance with external capital.
Meanwhile, the Hunza Hotel Association has released a press statement reflecting opportunism and a colonial mindset. The association appears more concerned with profits than with the legal and environmental rights of the region. It has failed to challenge the administration’s illegal application of Pakistani laws in a region that lies outside Pakistan's constitutional framework. Historically, the association has supported non-local hotel monopolies, which threaten Hunza’s ecological heritage and local economy.
Now is the time for the Hunza Hotel Association to shift its focus from mere profit to protecting Hunza’s environment, resources, and public interest. If not, they too will soon be pushed out of the tourism business by the very non-local powers they have enabled.
