Gilgit-Baltistan's politically inclined
residents are keeping an eye on who wins elections come May 11.
Gilgit-Baltistan
might be the last thing on the minds of Pakistan’s election-contesting parties
— none of them have included these far-flung northern areas in their manifestos
— but its more politically inclined residents are keeping a close eye on who
gets to form a government in Islamabad come May 11. “Our fate-politically, economically, legally — remains in the hands of Islamabad, thanks to the
quirks and tragedies of history,” says Tahir Hussain, a Skardu resident. “We
might have nothing to say — we will not be voting — but the next election will
matter. The new government in Islamabad
could help enshrine, or remove, our rights.”
While the rest of the country goes to the polls, the two
million-strong population in this northern mountain range will have nothing to
say when it comes to deciding who gets to sit in power in Islamabad.
Its
marginalisation from Pakistani politics is nothing new. In 1948, when this area
acceded to Pakistan,
it was promised constitutional recognition by the Pakistani state. Instead, Pakistan linked Gilgit-Baltistan to Jammu and Kashmir, hoping to ensure a favourable vote for
the latter to accede to the newly formed Muslim nation in case a United Nations-promised
plebiscite, meant to clarify whether Jammu & Kashmir belonged to India or Pakistan, took place. “The people
of the region have since been bearing the brunt of this flawed policy and
resultantly, the constitutional status of Gilgit-Baltistan has been in limbo,”
said Syed Ansar Hussain, a resident of Gilgit-Baltistan.
A long road to nothing?
Until 2009, the
area had been governed directly by Islamabad
— a state of affairs that many say continues until today. After accession in
1948, the government declared the area an agency of the central government, and
deployed a political agent to administer its affairs through the Frontier
Crimes Regulation — the notorious set of laws that allows collective
punishments, outlaws political activity, and denies basic rights like appeal,
wakeel and daleel (the right to appeal detention, the right to legal
representation and the right to present reasoned evidence) in the tribal areas
(Fata) today. Though the FCR was lifted by the former prime minister Zulfikar
Ali Bhutto in 1971, the region remained largely outside of Pakistani politics.
Its development works were administered by a council with representatives from
the centre and the region, that either did not function, or, say experts,
remained dominated by a chief executive appointed by the Pakistan government.
An
attempt to turn the fate of Gilgit-Baltistan around has also been met with
scathing criticism. In 2009, the PPP passed the Gilgit-Baltistan Empowerment
and Self-Governance Order, thereby introducing an ‘autonomy package’ meant to
turn the fate of this area around. Other than renaming the region (it used to
be called the Northern Areas) and establishing the Gilgit-Baltistan Legislative
Assembly (GBLA), it gave Gilgit-Baltistan full internal autonomy. The package
replaced direct rule from Islamabad with a 33-seat assembly that is supposed to
function as a provincial legislature — with the right to formulate its own
Rules of Procedures, legislate on 61 ‘subjects’ or areas, and allocate and
invest development funds given by Islamabad.
However,
internal autonomy never meant that Gilgit-Baltistan had the constitutional
authority to function on a par with Pakistan’s provinces. As a result,
the relative improvement in Gilgit-Baltistan’s status vis-à-vis the centre
failed to convince the area’s more critical or nationalist voices — they
rejected the package, calling it a “gimmickry of words”. “We want complete
constitutional rights declaring this region as a fifth province of the
country,” said Dedar Ali, a newly nominated provincial minister in the GBLA.
Ali
and other critics also say that the governance package can be removed by the
whiff of a presidential hand — or order. With no constitutional legitimacy as a
province, its administrative status makes it especially vulnerable to the whims
of the next party in power. Meanwhile, the chief minister has limited authority
— like the appointments, postings and transfers of civil servants below grade
18. His financial powers are limited, and he finds himself having to “turn to Islamabad with a begging
bowl” according to one critic, far too often.
Some
critics go further, saying that the present administrative package is an
obstacle in the region’s development. Some, like senior journalist and chief
editor of Daily Siachen Gilgit Baltistan, Syed Bahadur Ali Salik, think that
the present administrative package is an obstacle when it comes to the
development of the region — half of the allocated budget goes to
non-development spending, i.e. spending on the governor’s, chief minister’s and
ministers’ salaries and perks. “That was why we have seen no development works
being completed in this region over the last three years,” says Salik.
Keeping a close watch
“Why watch the
general election? Because when the GBLA goes to elections in two years, we’re
going to have to make sure that we elect a central party to power, so they can
help us develop this region,” says Salik. In the run-up to elections, more
pro-government factions find it realistic to align themselves with the party
that will hold power in the centre, and therefore power over the development
funds and ultimate future fate of the region. In the last election for the
GBLA, the people of Gilgit-Baltistan fully supported the PPP and managed to
establish a government under its party banner. The election result had many
hoping that the PPP would solve its problems. Many, however, feel cheated.
“The
former prime minister, Yousuf Raza Gilani, changed the 2009 ordinance into an
executive order, which means Gilgit-Baltistan remains vulnerable to the whims
of a central government,” says the former deputy chief executive of
Gilgit-Baltistan, Haji Fida Mohammad Nashad. “They went ahead and disappointed
a lot of those people who supported them — there were hardly any development
projects to speak of. Gilgit-Baltistan is hoping for a political change in the
country,” he said. Salik hopes that the PML-N will bring about a major change.
“I hope Mian Nawaz Sharif will upgrade the administrative package of
Gilgit-Baltistan — he has announced that he will if the PML-N wins. He has also
promised to transform Gilgit-Baltistan into a constitutional province by
converting the current order from 2009 into an ordinance,” says Salik.
Nationalists: Independence, not elections
Nationalist
parties go much further, and say that the elections are a sideshow that remove
focus from the real issue. The chairman of the Gilgit-Baltistan United
Movement, Engineer Manzoor Hussain Perwana, is disappointed that the Pakistan
government has deprived his people of basic human, constitutional and
democratic rights. He says that the government has kept Gilgit-Baltistan in a
conflict scenario for six decades — within the framework of the Kashmir dispute. The annexation, as he calls it, of
Gilgit-Baltistan is illegitimate. Instead, the indigenous Gilgit-Baltistanis
who overthrew the erstwhile Dogra regime on Nov 1, 1947, to form an independent
government should be considered the real local authority of the region’s
indigenous population — and thus be considered one of the three interim
governments recognised by the UN as parts of the disputed former state of Jammu
& Kashmir (the other two governments are at Muzaffarabad and Srinagar).
Instead, Perwana
argues, the Pakistan
government has colonised Gilgit-Baltistan, and mishandled and misrepresented
the real situation to the international community. “This region Baltistan,
which operates under the de facto administration of Pakistan, has no identity, no
constitution, no system, no freedom of expression, no impartial judiciary, no
free media, no free movement, no human rights, no rights of vote and no freedom
of expression. Instead, it is one of the last colonies of the 21st century, and
what Baroness Emma Nicholson, a member of the European Parliament, called a
‘Black Hole’,” says Perwana.
Source: the dawn
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