Context: Recently, India has reacted strongly to reports of vandalism and defacement of ancient Buddhist rock carvings in Gilgit-Baltistan under Pakistan’s control.
Area of Concern

• The Buddhist sites in Hunza in Gilgit-Baltistan have been desecrated by Islamists, who painted Pakistani flags and slogans on the rock-cut art.
• The Buddhist residents, who found the paintings to be fresh, said that the vandalism by the Islamists was in retaliation to the recent protests against the Diamer Bhasha dam project, a joint Pakistan-China project.
• The conservationists and activists had expressed apprehension that the artefacts will get submerged in the Diamer Bhasha dam that China and the Pakistan Army are jointly constructing in the area.

About Rock of Hunza

• The Sacred Rock of Hunza is carved rock as well as a cultural heritage site in Gilgit-Baltistan in Pakistan occupied Kashmir.
• The carvings on the rock dates back to the 1st Millennium AD.
• The rock is on the top of a hill which lies east to the Hunza River.
• The Sacred Rock is divided into two portions, an upper portion and a lower one.
• Both the portions carry carvings on them which are basically inscriptions and images from the Prehistoric era.
• The site had many Buddhist shelter caves in ancient times which later collapsed or fell over the time.
• The rock carvings and engravings in areas were part of the Buddhist circle covering Ladakh and Tibet.

In its Upper Portion

• The upper portion of the rock consists of inscriptions which are carved in Sogdian, Kharosthi, Brahmi, Sarada and Proto Sarada languages.
• The names of the Emperors of the Kushan Empire appear in these inscriptions as well as the names of other Emperors from the Empires of Kanishka and Huvishka.
• The name of the Trukha King Ramadusa is also mentioned in inscriptions which are carved in Brahmi language.

In its Lower Portion

• The lower portion is engraved by the images of Ibexes.
• The carvings also contain Horned-Human deities playing with the ibexes.
• The carvings of the Ibexes are a proof of the ibex being an animal which holds cultural importance to Buddhists as well as to the region in ancient times.
• Some carvings show a Tibetan styled Stupa.