Gilgit-Baltistan

Gilgit-Baltistan (; ), formerly known as the Northern Areas, is a region administered by Pakistan as an administrative territory and consists of the northern portion of the larger Kashmir region, which has been the subject of a dispute between India and Pakistan since 1947 and between India and China since 1959. It borders Azad Kashmir to the south, the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to the west, the Wakhan corridor of Afghanistan to the north, the Xinjiang region of China to the east and northeast, and the Indian-administered union territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh to the southeast.

The territory encompassing present-day Gilgit-Baltistan became a single administrative unit as Federally Administered Northern Areas in 1972. In 2009, the region was renamed as Gilgit-Baltistan under the Self-Governance Order passed by the federal cabinet, establishing provincial institutions. The 2018 Gilgit-Baltistan Order transferred powers previously exercised by Gilgit-Baltistan Council to the elected Gilgit-Baltistan Assembly, although it vests substantial executive power to the office of Prime Minister. Much of the population of Gilgit-Baltistan reportedly wants the territory to become integrated with Pakistan proper as a fifth province, and opposes integration with the rest of the Kashmir region. The Pakistani government has rejected calls from the territory for provincial status on the grounds that granting such a request would jeopardise Pakistan's demands for the entire Kashmir conflict to be resolved according to all related United Nations resolutions.