Hanging in the balance: ‘G-B must be made constitutional part of Pakistan’

Former law minister warns people may decide their own fate otherwise.

GILGIT: Former Gilglt-Baltistan law minister Ali Madad Sher decided to speak his heart on his last day in office, saying the federal government must make the region a constitutional part of Pakistan or else the people will decide their own fate.

The outburst from Sher came late Tuesday night, hours before the end of the tenure of the Mehdi Shah-led Pakistan Peoples Party government. “I ask the federal government to take a decision about the fate of G-B,” he said while addressing a farewell dinner hosted in honour of the outgoing government.



On Tuesday night, the centre nominated Sher Jehan Mir as the caretaker chief minister. He will remain in charge for a period of three months till elections next year.

“The armed forces will not be able to discharge their duties on the borders if nobody reads the writing on the wall,” he said, hinting at a possible uprising. “Put me behind bars if what I am saying is a crime,” he asserted.

In his fiery address, the former minister said he has a national identity card just like the president of Pakistan, but neither he nor anyone from his region could take up the office. “Enough is enough. I urge authorites to settle this issue before it is too late,” he told a gathering which was also attended by heads of security agencies.

Earlier, the gathering was addressed by former speaker Wazir Baig. “The time we spent together was quite satisfactory, although some of my remarks offended the government and chief minister at times,” Baig recalled.

G-B was made a de facto province through a presidential order in 2009. While the semi-autonomous region has its own chief minister and governor, its people don’t have representation in the National Assembly.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 11^th, 2014.