Sajjad Hussain<\/p>\n
November 1 is marked as the day of independence of Gilgit-Baltistan. On this day in 1947, the indigenous people of GB forced the Dogra army to leave the region. For almost half a month, Gilgit-Baltistan remained an independent state, unannexed to either India or Pakistan. But on 16 November, Gilgit-Baltistan voluntarily acceded to Pakistan.
\nSince then, the status of GB has been in abeyance. Although the Constitution of Pakistan under Article 1(2)(c) clearly declares the annexed territories as part of Pakistan, the actual legal status of Gilgit-Baltistan is yet to be determined. Successive governments have attempted to assimilate the region into Pakistan over the past seven decades but have not presented a robust constitutional package to extricate the region from this limbo.
\nAfter its annexation, it remained under the control of the Federally Administered Tribal Area. Until 1949, the area was ruled by bureaucracy, which enforced the stringent FCR law to administer the region. In 1949, the federal government and the Kashmir government signed the notorious Karachi Agreement without involving the representatives of GB in the agreement. This agreement handed over the region to KANA in 1950. Since then, the region has been considered part of Kashmir, and its fate has been inextricably linked to that of Kashmir.
\nDuring the latter two decades of military regimes, no significant development was made except for the Chenab Formula proposed in 1962 between India and Pakistan, which aimed to divide greater Kashmir using the Chenab as the boundary between the two sides. This formula was discussed for years but failed to bear fruit.
\nFor the first time, to give representation to its people, the Northern Areas Advisory Council came into being in 1969. It was renamed in 1974 as the Northern Areas Council. In 1994, the Legal Framework Ordinance gave minimal legislative power to the local representatives. But all these arrangements were ad hoc in nature.
\nOn 28 May 1999, the Supreme Court of Pakistan, in its landmark ruling, declared the people of GB citizens of Pakistan for all practical purposes. It was only in 2009 that the then government of the PPP at the federal level introduced the Gilgit-Baltistan Empowerment and Self-Government Order, which gave the province a quasi-provincial structure. The name was changed from FANA to Gilgit-Baltistan. A 33-seat assembly was established, known as the GB Legislative Assembly, empowered to elect its chief minister. The region would have its own governor, election commission, and supreme appellate court, according to the order. Although this package tried to bring the region to parity with other provinces, it failed to placate the deeply rooted sense of deprivation.
\nTo give the arduous constitutional journey a new turn, the much-sought-after CPEC project came to the fore. China, being cognisant of the passage passing through GB, showed its reservations over the region\u2019s status. To regularise it for China, in 2015, a committee headed by Sartaj Aziz was set up by the government. The committee submitted a 93-page constitutional report to the government. The report stipulated making GB a special province until the permanent resolution of the Kashmir issue. The report also suggested giving GB seats in the Senate and the National Assembly after amending Articles 51 and 59 of the Constitution. It was also mentioned in the report that all the legislative subjects be transferred to the province to bring it on a par with other provinces. Furthermore, Gilgit-Baltistan was to be given representation in the NEC, NFC, and IRSA under this report.
\nAlthough these recommendations could not be constitutionalised under the PML-N government, they led to the promulgation of the GB Order 2018. Later, the Gilgit-Baltistan Supreme Appellate Court set aside the order and restored the earlier order of 2009.
\nHowever, in January 2019, the Supreme Court restored the order of 2018, remarking that GB is an indispensable part of the Kashmir issue and will remain so until its resolution. This was in contrast to the decision in the Al Jehad Trust case of 1999, where the people of Gilgit-Baltistan were citizens of Pakistan for all intents and purposes. This controversial ruling stalled constitutional progress.
\nAll these historical anecdotes show the state\u2019s unrelenting commitment to the matter. Successive governments have brought recommendations and packages, but they have not been followed by action. In the last six years, no development has been made in this regard. This has led to the inculcation of a sense of deprivation in the hearts of the populace.
\nIt is foolhardy to wait until the resolution of the Kashmir issue, which never seems likely to happen before doomsday. Using this pretext to keep the people of GB deprived of their rights is absurd at a time when India is busy making IOK part and parcel of its state. Now, the onus is on the Government of Pakistan to deal with the matter. Without granting constitutional status to GB, warding off the sense of deprivation from the hearts of the people of GB will remain a distant dream. It is high time the government paid heed to this matter seriously.<\/p>\n
The writer is a Political Science graduate from Punjab University, hailing from Skardu.<\/p>\n
Courtesy<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Sajjad Hussain November 1 is marked as the day of independence of Gilgit-Baltistan. On this day in 1947, the indigenous people of GB forced the Dogra army to leave the region. For almost half a month, Gilgit-Baltistan remained an independent state, unannexed to either India or Pakistan. But on 16 November, Gilgit-Baltistan voluntarily acceded to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[13507],"class_list":{"0":"post-512195","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-article","7":"tag-sajjad-hussain"},"yoast_head":"\n