Challenging the Gilgit-Baltistan chief minister’s authority to lift a ban on jobs in the region, the finance minister has said that only his ministry is authorised to place or lift such a ban.
“This is what the Gilgit-Baltistan Empowerment Order tells us. The [regional] chief minister is not authorised to flout the decisions of the [regional] cabinet,” Finance Minister Mohammad Ali Akhtar told The Express Tribune on Sunday. “The finance ministry had imposed the ban on recruitments and is authorised to reverse the decision.”
Akhtar is known to have serious differences with Chief Minister Mehdi Shah. He was served a show-cause notice for publicly disagreeing with the CM when Shah covertly issued a mining licence to Hong Kong-based Mohsin Industries whose operations had been banned by the Gilgit-Baltistan government. The CM’s decision came a day after the Gilgit-Baltistan Assembly unanimously passed a resolution imposing a ban on issuing exploration licenses to mining companies.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 18th, 2011.
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