The G-B government’s five-year term is set to end on December 10 but very little is known about if and how an interim set-up can take over.
The federal government’s silence over the lack of a provision in the G-B Empowerment and Self-governance Order 2009 for a temporary system to run state affairs is steadily adding to suspicions of a possible constitutional breakdown.
In the dark
“Can the chief minister tell this house what’s going to happen after December 10,” asked Rahmat Khaliq, a lawmaker from Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F).
“We are being kept in the dark about our future. I suggest the chief minister dissolve the assembly and announce a date for elections,” Khaliq said during the first day of the forty-first session chaired by Speaker Wazir Baig.
Mirza Hussain of Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) said the G-B Governance Order allows the governor to reappoint the existing CM for a certain period but Mehdi Shah will have to take a fresh oath. The interpretation was rejected by law minister Ali Madad Sher, who said the governance order does not require the swearing in. “It can be done without any fresh oath.”
Sher said a letter has been written to the prime minister for an amendment in the Governance Order but no reply has been received. “Let’s see what happens after December 10.”
Resolutions passed
The first resolution was tabled by Pakistan Peoples Party lawmakers Abdul Hameed and Ayub Shah condemning federal information minister Pervaiz Rasheed’s statement about G-B’s constitutional status. The minister had recently said, “Geographically Gilgit-Baltistan is a part of Pakistan, but legally it is not part of the country.”
“To say G-B isn’t a constitutional part [of Pakistan] is tantamount to insulting the sacrifices made by its people for Pakistan,” said Shah, reading out the resolution that was passed with a majority vote after a prolonged debate. Except for Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and nationalist leader Nawaz Khan Naji, the rest voted in favour of the resolution.
Deputy speaker Jamil Ahmed demanded lodging a case of treason against the federal minister under Article 6 of the Constitution. This was rejected by Naji and PML-N lawmakers who argued the federal minister’s statement was based on the fact that G-B is linked to “larger Kashmir issue”.
Naji said, “The words of Rasheed have been misinterpreted. He didn’t mean what these people are saying.”
The second resolution, also tabled by Hameed, was passed by the house unanimously whereby the house demanded action against those involved in the trade of narcotics. The third resolution, also passed unanimously, condemned the attack on JUI-F leader Dr Soomro in Sindh, asking for arrest of the killers.
The slip that keeps on giving
As the debate raged over Rasheed’s words, in a moment of emotion PML-N lawmaker Sultan Ali mistakenly chanted slogans against his own party’s representative, federal minister Chaudhry Nisar.
As PML-Q leader Hussain criticised Rasheed, Ali’s slip of tongue resulted in a resounding ‘Go Nisar Go’ instead of ‘Go Chaudhry Shujaat Go’. The lawmaker kept repeating it for a while before he realized his mistake, prompting the house to burst into laughter.
The house is set to meet on Tuesday (today).
Published in The Express Tribune, December 9th, 2014.
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