KARACHI: Pakistan is moving towards the next elections and the people of the four provinces will choose their representatives in provincial and national assemblies for the next five years. However, the people of Gilgit Baltistan (GB) will just be spectators rather than active participants during this process due to the constitutional and administrative status of the area.
Gilgit Baltistan was liberated from the Dogras by the people of the area and voluntarily affiliated to Pakistan. However, because it was connected with the Kashmir dispute, the habitants of the area have been waiting for a resolution to their constitutional fate for the last six decades. During this long period, the people were governed through tailor-made ordinances without enjoying a proper constitutional status. It is pertinent to note that the people of Indian-controlled Kashmir have been participating in their national elections and the people of Azad Kashmir have also been enjoying a better political set-up. The people of GB, on the other hand, are still waiting for such a facility to be provided to them, which, in fact, is a basic right.
GB’s ambiguous constitutional status has affected the area in many ways. First, due to a lack of healthy political activities, sectarian conflicts have badly affected the area. Second, because of the absence of representation in the National Assembly and the Senate, GB has not got due attention in terms of economic and social development. Third, the sense of constitutional and political deprivation has become a matter of distress for its people.
Today, the people of the area, particularly the educated youth, raise critical questions about their identity and political destiny. Comprehending the feelings of people, GB’s legislative assembly has passed a resolution that demands that the area be given the status of a constitutional province. It is time that this demand is met before the upcoming elections, so that the people of the area can also take part in them, along with other Pakistanis, in electing their representatives to parliament. The people of GB have waited a long time to get a proper constitutional status. Further delays in achieving this end may have multiple dangerous implications for the area.
Muhammad Ali
Published in The Express Tribune, October 17th, 2012.
