Gilgit-Baltistan
Pakistan's mountain territory: K2 and five 8,000m peaks, CPEC overland corridor to China, constitutional limbo (not a province), 72,971 km², disputed status
Gilgit-Baltistan is Pakistan's high-altitude frontier—a 72,971 km² territory (six times larger than Azad Kashmir) containing five of the world's fourteen 8,000-meter peaks including K2. The region forms the only overland connection between China and Pakistan, making it strategically essential to the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor. Yet Gilgit-Baltistan occupies a constitutional limbo: it appears on Pakistani maps but finds no mention in the constitution; residents pay federal taxes but are not citizens of Pakistan; official documents show the territory in italics acknowledging disputed status. The 2009 Gilgit-Baltistan (Empowerment and Self-Governance) Order granted autonomy after decades of direct rule from Islamabad, but the territory still lacks representation in Pakistan's National Assembly. Chinese pressure has driven periodic discussions of making Gilgit-Baltistan a fifth province—a move India would consider provocative given competing claims. The 1.8 million residents inhabit valleys along the upper Indus, with adventure tourism (climbing, trekking) and gems/minerals providing economic alternatives to remittances and government employment. CPEC infrastructure—including Karakoram Highway upgrades—transforms the region's connectivity while intensifying geopolitical competition.