Dispute and politic(k)s: ‘Provisional status a joke with G-B’

GILGIT:

The federal government’s steps and proposals to make Gilgit-Baltistan (G-B) a provisional province is unlawful, said a nationalist leader on Saturday. Gilgit-Baltistan United Movement Chairman Manzoor Parwana added “constitutional packages” for the region were illegal.

In a press release, Parwana reminded everyone that G-B was not a part of Pakistan under the 1973 Constitution. “Pakistan had taken over the administrative control of the G-B region in the wake of the dubious ‘Karachi Pact’ signed on April 28, 1949 in which G-B was represented by no one.” He added, “G-B is the only [province] which is represented neither in the National Assembly of Pakistan nor in the Senate. Its assembly is powerless,” he said.

The nationalist leader likened G-B to a disputed territory and said it had been deprived of self-determination for the last 68 years. “The term ‘provisional constitutional province’ is in any case a vague term and a joke with the people whose rights have been denied since long,” he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 12^th, 2015.