As was seen with the War of Liberation, resulting in the birth of Bangladesh, a common religion alone cannot hold different nationalities together. Issues of good governance, economic development, social justice and cultural identity also must be addressed in order for a nation state to sustain its existence. However, four decades since the violence of 1971, areas such as Gilgit-Baltistan remain a target of forced cultural assimilation and racial oppression – especially because the natives oppose Pakistan's Kashmir agenda, and refuse to entertain hideouts and training camps for militants.
Over the decades, authorities in Islamabad have tried to justify these suppressive policies based on underlying insecurities. For instance, they argue that Gilgit-Baltistan is a disputed territory claimed by India and that, according to United Nations resolutions, the locals have yet to choose their country. Official insecurity also comes from the fact that the population of Gilgit-Baltistan does not share ethnic or linguistic relations with the rest of Pakistan; the people of Baltistan have ethno-linguistic connections with Ladakh, while the predominant population of Gilgit (including the Shin, Yashkun and Khowar) are Dardic, and closely related to the ethnic communities in Kashmir and Rajasthan. The policymakers have long feared that any people-to-people contact between Gilgit-Baltistan and Ladakh could rekindle ethnic and linguistic movements across the Line of Control.
Since the Mohajirs, or refugees from Uttar Pradesh and surrounding areas, were instrumental in creating Pakistan, they also succeeded in imposing their new language, Urdu, as an important tool of the incipient nationalism. The establishment took every possible step to empower this language and its script, which came at the cost of weakening the predominant indigenous languages such as Sindhi, Seraiki, Balochi and Brahui. With an eye to expanding their political constituency, the Mohajirs started to paint the area's indigenous languages as symbols of ethnic resistance and, hence, a threat to the Pakistani federation. With a clear sense of cultural superiority, they also began to impress upon the local nationalities that adopting Urdu would help to eliminate 'cultural shame' and 'backwardness'. Since that initial push, band-aid efforts have been made to promote a 'Pakistani identity' that goes beyond the propagation of Urdu, but to little effect. In the meantime, together with the large population of Sindh and Balochistan, the unique mountain-based culture of Gilgit-Baltistan is seeing erasure.
Today, Urdu has become officially the first language of all ethnicities in Gilgit-Baltistan, while the Urdu script is imposed as the chief medium of instruction in all schools. While children speak their native tongues at home, they are forced to adjust to Urdu (alongside Arabic and English) at a very young age. State-sponsored media likewise encourage Pakistani seasonal festivals, as well as Urdu poetry and music, which distract children from their ethnic roots. Indigenous scripts of Baltistan, such as Yige, suffered as well, once they were declared profane and anti-Islamic.