Serious deliberations are on at the federal level to have the Gilgit-Baltistan reforms package validated from the parliament to make it into a law, sources told The Express Tribune.
The Empowerment and Self Governance Order 2009 gave the region, formerly known as the Northern Areas, internal autonomy, which is equivalent to that of a province. This meant that the region, previously administered through a chief executive officer, can have its own chief minister and governor.
“The presidential order will be submitted to the parliament to have it validated after the budget 2011-12 is passed,” sources close to developments said. They said Chief Minister Mehdi Shah and Governor Karam Ali Shah had discussed the matter with the prime minister and the president.
They said that Minister for Kashmir Affairs Manzoor Wattoo has been assigned the task of preparing the case before it is submitted before parliament. This reforms package was first introduced by the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) in 1994 when former prime minister Benazir Bhutto was in office. After the order was passed 15 years later, the region’s nomenclature was changed to Gilgit-Baltistan. The order was passed by the cabinet on August 29, 2009, and the president signed it on September 7 the same year.
The package, however, lacks legal protection. Experts fear that the order can be revoked any time without a valid reason for it.
“It is just a presidential order and nothing more,” said Shafqat Wali, a senior lawyer in Gilgit, adding that unless validated by parliament and made into a law, the package has no legal standing constitutionally.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 20th, 2011.
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