Local leaders call for more autonomy


Shabbir Ahmed Mir June 25, 2010

GILGIT: Political leaders from Gilgit-Baltistan have demanded more autonomy for the region, calling for the abolition of the concurrent list and devolution of powers to make legislation on regional matters to people’s representatives.

These demands were made by participants of a workshop organised by a US-sponsored nongovernmental organisation, SDPD–UNDP, at a local hotel on Friday. The topic of the workshop was “Implementation of 18th Amendment of the Constitution of Pakistan and Concerns of the Citizens of Gilgit-Baltistan.”

Prominent local figures, including Advocate Ahsan Ali, President of the Labour Party, Qalb-e-Ali, President of the PML-N Nagar, Nawaz Khan Naji, Chairman of the BNF, participated in the workshop.

They unanimously called for the abolition of the GB Council. According to the Governance Order 2009, the GB Council will be headed by the prime minister while at least six federal ministers will be its members. Only six members from GB will be part of the council. It will have powers to make legislation on subjects like forests, minerals, water and tourism etc. But politicians wonder how representatives of GB could get their demands accepted by the GB Council headed by the prime minister and others federal ministers. “What do you expect from those people who are afraid of even conveying their problems to the rulers sitting in Islamabad, let alone making a demand” said Qalb-e-Ali.

Nawaz Naji said they would have no objection if the federal government retained subjects like defence and foreign affairs with it. But he added that matters pertaining to GB must be devolved to elected representatives of the region.

About the role of the Appellate Court, Advocate Ahsan Ali claimed that the judiciary in GB was under the administration and no judge could stand against any order issued by even a home secretary.

The workshop participants also demanded the federal government make public revenues being collected from GB and the money spent on the region. They agreed that they would pay taxes but not without proper representation in the Senate and the National Assembly. “No taxation without representation,” they said, adding that GB’s was the first case in the history because it has neither any constitution nor is it part of a country as far as the Constitution is concerned. The participants said that GB should be declared fourth party in the Kashmir issue and regional leaders should be included in talks on the future of the region.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 26th, 2010.

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