districts, has a population approaching two million, has an area of approximately , and shares borders with China, Afghanistan, and India. The local Northern Light Infantry is the army unit that participated in the 1999 Kargil conflict. More than 500 soldiers were believed to have been killed and buried in the Northern Areas in that action. Lalak Jan, a soldier from Yasin Valley, was awarded Pakistan's most prestigious medal, the Nishan-e-Haider, for his courageous actions during the Kargil conflict. Self-governing status and present-day Gilgit Baltistan On 29 August 2009, the Gilgit Baltistan Empowerment and Self-Governance Order, 2009, was passed by the Pakistani cabinet and later signed by the President of Pakistan. The order granted self-rule to the people of the former Northern Areas, now renamed Gilgit Baltistan, by creating, among other things, an elected legislative assembly. There has been an uplift in the self-identification of this territory's inhabitants through the name change but it has still left the region's constitutional status within Pakistan undefined. People of Gilgit-Baltistan have Pakistani passports and identity cards, yet are not represented in the Parliament of Pakistan. Similarly, Gilgit-Baltistan is a member of neither the cCI nor the NFC constitutional bodies. However, the Supreme Court of Pakistan has time and again asked for determination of the constitutional status of Gilgit-Baltistan. In this regard the 1999 Supreme Court judgement is a landmark decision, declaring people of Northern Areas as Pakistani citizens with all fundamental rights. A seven-member bench of the Supreme Court of Pakistan was told in November 2018 that the Federal Government has had appointed a high-level committee to examine the constitutional reforms of Gilgit-Baltistan. According to Antia Mato Bouzas, the 2009 Governance Order was the Pakistani government's compromise between its official stand on Kashmir and the demands of a territory where the majority of people may have pro-Pakistan sentiments. There has been some criticism and opposition to this move in India and Gilgit Baltistan region of Pakistan. Gilgit Baltistan United Movement while rejecting the new package demanded that an independent and autonomous legislative assembly for Gilgit Baltistan should be formed with the installation of local authoritative government as per the UNCIP resolutions, where the people of Gilgit Baltistan will elect their president and the prime minister. In early September 2009, Pakistan signed an agreement with the People's Republic of China for a mega energy project in Gilgit–Baltistan which includes the construction of a 7,000-megawatt