Mohammad Usman Bhatti

The territories of the so-called ‘Azad Jammu and Kashmir’ (AJK) and Gilgit-Baltistan (GB), known together as Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (POK), hold immense geostrategic significance while remaining at the heart of a deeply contested political discourse within the broader Kashmir issue. Despite ‘AJK’s ostensible branding as ‘Azad’ or ‘free’ and GB’s glorification as Pakistan’s ‘crown jewel’, these characterizations obscure a reality of constrained autonomy, overshadowed by Islamabad’s overarching federal control and the formidable grip of Pakistan’s security apparatus.

• Mohammad Usman Bhatti, Muneeb Yousuf |
• March-April 2025 |
• Strategic Analysis

Research Analyst, Manohar Parrikar IDSA, Dr Mohd Usman Bhatti’s article ‘Courting Kabul Carefully’ has been published in Frontline Magazine on 24 October 2025.

The article explores the growing Afghanistan-India relationship, analysing its implications within the context of ongoing geopolitical and geo-strategic developments in the region, involving both regional and extra-regional powers.

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Research Assistants, Manohar Parrikar IDSA, Dr Mohd Usman Bhatti and Mr Muneeb Yousuf’s article ‘A Problem in the Making: Deepening Wheat Crisis in Gilgit-Baltistan and federal government's cold response’ has been published in Greater Kashmir, on 18 July 2023.

From the beginning of year of 2023, Pakistan in general and GB in particular is grappling with wheat crisis. Remarkably, while the current Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) government has taken some steps towards this direction in the country, however, grievances of the people of GB with respect to shortage and soaring prices of wheat has been deliberately put on a back-burner, thus adding to miseries of common people, say Dr Bhatti and Mr Yousuf.

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