Mounting pressure: Five new members for G-B interim cabinet

Region-wide demonstrations prompt appointments after some districts were ignored

GILGIT:

As pressure over cabinet appointments mounts, the federal government has decided to include five more members in the caretaker set-up of Gilgit–Baltistan (G-B). The appointments, if confirmed, will double the strength of the interim cabinet to 10 members and help settle differences between Gilgit and the Centre.

Last week, the Centre appointed five members—Inayatullah Shumali, Sheikh Nasir Zamani, Advocate Mushtaq Ahmed, Niamatullah and Sanaullah—in the caretaker set-up that took charge in December after G-B’s elected government completed its five-year term. The initial decision to appoint just five cabinet members triggered region-wide protests as three districts, including Hunza-Nagar, Ghizer and Ghanche, lacked representation.

The exclusion forced the interim chief minister to admit he was not consulted in the formation of the cabinet. In a bid to settle the issue, the G-B-chapter of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) held a parliamentary board meeting in Islamabad on Monday. The regional chief of the party flew in to Islamabad to take part in the meeting. The meeting was chaired by PML-N Chairman Raja Zafarul Haq and attended by Federal Minister for Information Pervaiz Rashid, Federal Minister for Kashmir Affairs and G-B Barjees Tahir, PML-N Secretary General Zafar Iqbal Jhagra and PML-N G-B President Hafeezur Rahman.

“It was decided that five more members would be appointed in the cabinet from the areas ignored earlier,” a politician who attended the meeting told The Express Tribune on Tuesday while referring to Hunza-Nagar, Ghizer and Ghanche districts.

He said others being considered as cabinet members were Kalbe Ali from Hunza-Nagar district, Fozia Kulsoom from Skardu, Abdul Hanan from Ghizer, Fida Zaidi from Ghanche and Basharatullah from Diamer. However, they have not yet been made members as the summary for their appointment sent to the prime minister has not been signed yet.

The meeting also decided to hold elections in May/June when weather conditions improved, he added.

Proposals regarding socio-political and economic reforms in G-B would be presented in the next meeting. Parliamentary board members reiterated the federal government’s resolve to bring G-B at par with the developed areas of the country and vowed to continue efforts to promote harmony in the region.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 21^st, 2015.