Ruled Paper (red, blue, white) are reminiscent of four-lined page notebooks used in schools to practice learning to write. While the straight lines provide a framework, they also convey an impression of conformity to imposed rules. Here the lines consist of electric wires, the conduits used by global communication technologies. In some places they morph into barbed barriers evoking borders, threat and mistrust suggesting the dual nature of communication technologies both as connectors and potential sources of division. Red, blue and white recall the colours of the imperial state’s flags, evoking a legacy of colonial assertion, through the imposition of language and education systems, which this work symbolically gestures toward. As the lines distort, they give way to forms that reference maps of conflict zones such as Aksai Chin, Crimea, the Gaza Strip, Gilgit Baltistan, and the Taiwan Strait, among others conjuring up a long history of colonialist nationalist claims. Through this formal exploration, Kallat exposes the tacit ways in which our minds and perceptions can be colonised by the frameworks we are conditioned within.

Gilgit-Baltistan, spanning 72,971 square kilometers, is divided into three administrative divisions and ten districts. The Gilgit division includes Gilgit, Hunza, Ghizer, and Nagar, while the Baltistan division encompasses Ghanche, Shigar, Kharmang, and Skardu. The Diamer division consists of Diamer and Astore. Despite being directly governed from Islamabad, neither Gilgit-Baltistan nor Pakistan-administered Azad Jammu and Kashmir (PoK) hold official recognition as part of Pakistan, which comprises only four provinces: Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan, and Sindh. Both regions maintain an "autonomous" status, aligning with Pakistan's claim that the entire Jammu and Kashmir region is "disputed."
India considers a 1994 parliamentary resolution that designates both PoK and Gilgit-Baltistan as integral parts of the State of Jammu and Kashmir, which acceded to India in 1947. Gilgit-Baltistan holds strategic importance for Pakistan, primarily due to its role as the gateway for the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), while India regards it as an essential part of the historical Jammu and Kashmir continuum.
The ongoing tension in the India-China border area in Eastern Ladakh is closely linked to Gilgit-Baltistan. India views the Darbuk-Shyok-DBO road as critical for access to the Karakoram Pass, a route through which China enters Gilgit-Baltistan and Pakistan.
Pakistan has proposed legislation to grant provisional provincial status to Gilgit-Baltistan, a move that India vehemently opposes. India asserts that the entire Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh, encompassing Gilgit and Baltistan, are integral parts of India.
The dispute over Gilgit-Baltistan continues to simmer between India and Pakistan, and China's increased presence in the region, driven by recent India-China tensions in the Galwan Valley, adds complexity and uncertainty to the issue's future.