INTRODUCTION

Dr. Hasan H. Karrar, an Associate Professor at the Mushtaq Ahmad Gurmani School of Humanities and Social Science, Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) was invited to speak on The Geopolitics of Infrastructure and Securitization on February 14, 2024. Karrar began the discourse by highlighting the presence of a large number of checkpoints in Gilgit-Baltistan despite the area being seemingly stable as compared to
Baluchistan. The region is situated amidst the Karakoram high mountains, and shares borders with Afghanistan, China, and India. Before 1948, there had been no road links between down-country Pakistan and the Karakoram. An all-weather road known as the Karakoram Highway, was built in the 1960s. Since then, this arterial road has enabled outmigration for education and employment, and has spurred new markets, commercialization and tourist industries. It has led to the influx of political ideas, forming sectarian identities; and has spawned social justice and conservation movements.