Three developments have set off the sudden interest towards the region primarily comprising of Muzafarrabad, Gilgit and Baltistan. The devastating earthquake of October 2005, perhaps for the first time brought international community, especially the donor agencies and NGOs into PoK for relief operation. They witnessed the lack of basic fundamental rights, absence of local participation in the administration and the over imposing role by Pakistan's military and its bureaucracy on the people. Besides, during the relief and rehabilitation program they also witnessed the overwhelming control by the jihadi groups, especially of Muzafarabad region.

Post 9/11, the spurt in jihadi activities inside Pakistan also coincided with the increased international anxiety over what is happening not only inside Pakistan, but also in its neighborhood. Heightened activities on both sides of the Durand Line and the Tine of Control came under sharp international scrutiny, as such to view the issues in the right perspectives. The successful conduct of transparent elections in Jammu and Kashmir in 2002 and the subsequent changes in the State has broadened the international understanding of the ground situation. A comparison between the two parts of Kashmir in a holistic manner, therefore, became inevitable, as one could see in Emma Nicholson's report.

Sectarian violence in Gilgit and Baltistan in the recent years have assumed disastrous propositions, with the State in Pakistan openly siding with one section. The perennial outburst of sectarian strife has exposed and alienated the population in Gilgit and Baltistan, besides absence of any basic rights from administration to justice. Emma Nicholson, in her report to the EU, has described the Northern Areas as "black holes".

This book is an effort to understand some key issues and events. It is hoped, this book will raise further questions and debate.