Right to amend: Clueless minister heading body on G-B governance ordinance

Committee to recommend changes to the Self Rule Order has not met since inception last year.

ISLAMABAD:
Over a year after it was constituted, it seems that the man heading a committee that was supposed to discuss amendments to the Gilgit-Baltistan Empowerment and Self Rule Order 2009 is clueless about any progress made.

The committee was constituted in August 2011 on the direction of President Asif Ali Zardari in response to a resolution passed by the Gilgit-Baltistan Legislative Assembly in 2010 seeking amendments to clause 93 of the G-B Empowerment and Self Rule Order.

However, when approached for comment on the progress made by the committee, no one from the Kashmir Affairs and Gilgit-Baltistan (KAGB) Ministry was ready to give their version. Even the public relations officer for the ministry, Saqib Mumtaz, said he was not authorised to give an official version to the media.

When KAGB Minister Mian Manzoor Ahmed Wattoo was first approached, his cell phone was attended by his personal secretary, who despite assuring that he would reply with the minister’s version, made no later communication.

When the minister, who is also chairman of the committee, was approached again later, he expressed his ignorance about the committee, stating that he did not have an exact idea about the committee and would have to get an update on the issue from ministry officials.


Long overdue

According to the resolution passed by the legislative assembly, Clause 93 of the recent order has taken away the authority of the legislative assembly to amend the rules of business with a two-thirds majority as was the case under the Legal Framework Order (LFO), which it replaced.

Sources said that KAGB Minister Wattoo did not want to transfer powers to the G-B Assembly, which is “the major hurdle in the path of amending the offending clause”. However, considering that in the year that has passed since the committee was constituted, not a single meeting has been held to look into the matter, the hurdles seem to be multiplying.

In August 2010, the G-B Assembly passed a resolution demanding that the federal government empower the assembly with the same right to amend the rules of business as it could under the LFO. Copies of the resolution were forwarded to the President, Prime Minister and other concerned ministries for necessary action. Later, President Asif Zardari directed the KAGB Ministry to look into the matter. On August 16, 2011, the ministry constituted a three-member committee consisting of the KAGB minister and secretary, and the G-B law minister, days after a notification was issued announcing the same.

In its resolution, the G-B assembly stated that under the clause 93 of the Empowerment Order, the power to amend the rules has been given to the federal government, which was against the spirit of empowerment. The resolution added that without amending the clause, one cannot even dream of autonomy.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 8th, 2012.
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