The situation in the region turned tense on Friday when protests were held in the Gilgit city and surrounding areas on the call of a Shia group, hours after a prominent Sunni cleric allegedly made derogatory remarks during a protest in Gilgit.
Pakistan’s interim Information Minister Murtaza Solangi said on Sunday that the situation in Gilgit-Baltistan was “completely peaceful”, amid reports of sectarian tensions in the region that forced authorities to indefinitely suspend mobile internet services.
“The situation in Gilgit-Baltistan is completely peaceful and the news and speculations circulating in media regarding the deployment of Pakistan Army are completely baseless,” Solangi said in a post on platform X, citing a statement released by the region’s home department.
He said all roads, trade centres, business activities and educational institutions are open as usual in the region, which has a history of rivalry between the Sunni and Shia Muslims.
The minister said that services of the Pakistan Army and the civil armed forces had been requisitioned “only to maintain law and order” on the eve of the chehlum or Arbaeen (that marks the anniversary of the 40th day of mourning following the seventh-century killing of the Prophet’s grandson Imam Hussain in the battle of Karbala in Iraq).