Give AJK, G-B province-like-powers

Former AJK top judge says the two regions must have representation in policy-making bodies

MUZAFFARABAD: A former chief justice of the Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) Supreme Court has urged Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to help remove a sense of alienation amongst the people of the valley and the Gilgit-Baltistan region by devising a solution along the lines proposed for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA).

“Like FATA, AJK and G-B have also lagged behind the rest of Pakistan,” wrote Justice (Retd) Manzoor Hussain Gilani, who now heads the think tank Association for the Rights of People of Jammu and Kashmir.

He noted that the government’s long-awaited decision on the merger of FATA with K-P to bring people of the area on  par with the rest of the country was a commendable step. However, in AJK and G-B the people expected more.

“While elected assemblies exist in the two territories [AJK and G-B], the general feeling among the people is one of lack of empowerment as the federal government and the bureaucracy exercise wide powers of governance and administration even in local affairs,” Justice Gilani’s letter reads.

Not only are AJK and G-B excluded from the federal government and the parliament, they are also not represented in institutions such as the National Finance Award (NFC), Council of Common Interests (CCI), National Economic Council (NEC), or the Indus River System Authority (IRSA) created to forge policy coordination between the federation and the constituent units, he added.

The letter further noted that one of the main reasons for failing to introduce constitutional reforms and bringing AJK and G-B on  par with the provinces is the apprehension that doing so would compromise Pakistan’s commitment to the UN Security Council resolutions on the Kashmir dispute and would be detrimental to the freedom struggle of the Kashmiri people.

However, Justice Gilani argued that while this apprehension was not totally unfounded, but constitutional reforms in AJK and G-B must be carefully tailored so as not to affect the disputed status of Jammu and Kashmir or to dilute Pakistan’s commitment to the relevant UN resolutions.

“To safeguard Pakistan’s position on Kashmir and the right of the Kashmiri people to self-determination, it will be necessary to enshrine Pakistan’s commitment to the UN Security Council resolutions in the Constitution of Pakistan and to state expressly in the Constitution that measures to link AJK and G-B more closely with the country’s federal architecture are of a provisional nature pending the implementation of the UN resolutions on the Kashmir dispute,” he said.

“In order to underline the provisional nature of these steps, it is important that AJK and G-B should not be made provinces but only given province-like powers and privileges enjoyed by the provinces under the Constitution of Pakistan.”

He went on to argue that since the policies and decisions of the government of Pakistan apply to AJK and G-B, they must be given an equal say with the provinces in the formation of the government and should have seats in the two houses of parliament in addition to space in NFC, CCI, NEC and IRSA.

“Keeping AJK and G-B as grey areas from the point of view of the Pakistan constitution, as is the case at present, also makes them susceptible to Indian adventurism, as we have experienced in Siachen,” he wrote, adding that the time was ripe to change the status quo by empowering these areas simultaneously and through similar constitutional measures.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 26^th, 2017.