Tahir Abbas Ghizeri
People of Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) celebrated their 73rd independence day earlier on Sunday. The day is celebrated every year to express deep gratitude to the national heroes for their indelible sacrifices. On Nov 01, 1947, the people of GB liberated themselves from the Dogra rule and decided to annex the region to Pakistan unconditionally, but even after 73 years from the day of commencement, the legal status of the formally known Federally Administered Northern Areas (FANA) has still kept ambiguous and undefined.
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The history of Gilgit-Baltistan dates back to the seventh century when the region was ruled by a Buddhist dynasty; and till independence, the region mostly remained as an administrative territory under different administrations. After independence from Dogra Dynasty in 1947, Karachi Agreement was signed and the region came under the Frontier Crimes Regulations (FCR) in 1949. By virtue of the Karachi agreement, twelve subjects including negotiations with the United Nations Commission for India & Pakistan (UNCIP) and the coordination of all affairs with regard to Gilgit Baltistan were handed over to Pakistan by the government of Azad Jammu & Kashmir.
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In 1970, Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto established Northern Areas Council and FANA was directly administered by the Federal government. A remarkable development was made by the PPP led government in 2009 when Gilgit-Baltistan Empowerment and Self Governance Order was passed by the cabinet which was later signed by the then president, Asif Ali Zardari. The order granted self role to the people with nomenclature changed to Gilgit Baltistan. For the very first time in the history, elected legislative assembly was granted to the people of Gilgit-Baltistan. The order established a GB Assembly with 24 directly elected members. It was the Gilgit Baltistan Council headed by the Prime Minister as Chairman, which exercised de facto powers over the region. And GB thus gained a de facto province-like status without constitutionally becoming part of Pakistan.
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There had been criticism and opposition to the Governance Order 2009 in GB. The Gilgit Baltistan United Movement demanded an independent and autonomous legislative assembly with the installation of local authoritative government as per the UNCIP resolutions, where the people of Gilgit-Baltistan can elect their own President and Prime Minister. Since people of the region were long deprived of the basic rights, and hence, majority of the people were of the thought that something is always better than nothing; and to some, this move was another step towards further achievements.
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In 2015, the launching of China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and the criticism citing its passage through a disputed territory prompted the then PML-N government to review GB’s governance structure. A committee of nine members led by the Advisor of Foreign Affairs, Sartaj Aziz was constituted to look into the status of GB. The committee proposed a de-facto integration of GB to Pakistan, after completing a series of talks up until 2018. Advisor of the Foreign Affairs also suggested that constitutional amendment would be made to change the status of GB, through which the CPEC will pass. Within few months, the government proposed GB Order 2018 and the power exercised by the GB Council was transferred to the GB Assembly in order to acknowledge its representative status.
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The plight and difficulties faced by the people of the region had gone unnoticed for long. The long-standing constitutional demand of the GB people was not fulfilled during the past 7 decades, but China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) magically turned things around. In the last few years, remarkable development regarding the constitutional status has been noticed. In 2019, the country’s top court had ordered to grant fundamental rights to residents of GB and ruled that the powers of the judiciary also be extended to the region. And after a year, the incumbent Prime Minister announced the granting of provisional-provincial status to Gilgit-Baltistan at a public gathering in Gilgit which was held earlier on Sunday to mark the 73rd Independence Day.
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Whether it was the Gilgit-Baltistan Empowerment and Self Governance Order 2009 or GB Order 2018, there had always been some sort of criticism and opposition. Although, IK’s grant of provisional-province itself has not been criticized very intensively, but people of the region are still demanding a meaningful inclusion rather than a symbolic provisional-province. People think that a symbolic provisional-province will make no difference if power is not transferred from Islamabad to the local legislative assembly.
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Moreover, the opposition has declared the announcement an attempt to pre-poll rigging in the coming elections. The central PTI government has been accused by the opposition of violating the Election Act 2017, which states that office holders in the federal government including the president and prime minister are prohibited to involve in any political activities after the announcement of election schedules. Both PML-N and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) blame that it is yet another unconstitutional attempt to gain political support in the upcoming elections.
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On the other hand, Prime Minister, IK claims that he has fulfilled the long-standing demand of the people of GB. During his speech, he also added that the decision has been taken within the framework of UN Security Council’s resolutions. It will be too early to predict whether the announcement itself is provisional or it will really fulfill the long-standing demand of the people of GB; but one question still arises. If the decision is aimed at defining the legal status of the people of the region; and if it’s within the framework of the UN Security Council’s resolution, then why it took 7 decades to realize the constitutional status of the 72,971 km² region.
