Aye, I didn't get as far north as Gilgit, but I've been around the block a few times, and I've never seen anything like NW Pakistan.

Is it safe to visit the region as a mountaineer tourist, these days?

There's a documentary, "The Last Mountain", about the sister and father of Tom Ballard, who died on Nanga Parbat, going out there to see where he did his final climb. It gives an idea of what it is like to visit.

Incidentally, Tom Ballard was the son of Alison Hargreaves, who died on K2.

I think the parent comment was not referring to climbing related safety :)

I knew someone who had visited Kashmir in the sixties and said it was gorgeous.