Pakistan–China Dam Threatens to Drown Thousands of Ancient Buddhist Relics

Rock carvings along KKH near Chilas in Diamer district of Gilgit-Baltistan. "Chital petroglyphs." Bulletin of the Asia Institute: 152. Wayne State University Press. Public Domain/Wikimedia Commons

Pakistan and China recently signed an agreement worth $14 billion to build a dam that threatens more than 50,000 ancient Buddhist relics in the disputed region of Gilgit-Baltistan.

The much delayed Diamer-Bhasha Dam was inaugurated for the fourth time by Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan on July 15 after an agreement was signed in May between the Chinese state-run firm China Power and the Pakistan Army’s Frontier Works Organisation.