Northern Areas' political reforms

[s90]

Autonomy package for Gilgit-Baltistan approved

ISLAMABAD: In a landmark decision, the government approved on Saturday a self-governance reforms package for the Northern Areas aimed at giving it full internal autonomy, but without the status of a province, and changed its name to Gilgit-Baltistan.

The People’s Party, Pakistan Muslim League-N and PML-Q have supported the decision, but most nationalist parties rejected the package as a ‘gimmickry of words’.

They contend that the region was an integral part of Jammu and Kashmir and any change in its administrative status betrayed a tacit shift in the government’s stand on Kashmir.

Amanullah Khan, chief of the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF), said the move had robbed the Northern Areas of a special status, virtually converting it into the country’s fifth province.

Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani briefed newsmen after obtaining approval from the cabinet for the ‘Gilgit-Baltistan Empowerment and Self Governance Order 2009’, which will replace the Northern Areas Legal Framework Order of 1994.

Under the order, Gilgit-Baltistan Assembly will formulate its own Rules of Procedures, while legislation on 61 subjects will be done by a council and an assembly in their respective jurisdictions.

In reply to a question, Mr Gilani said the Council did not need the parliament’s shelter as it will have its own Rules of Business, while a boundary commission has also been set up.

Elections for a new assembly and a chief minister will be held in mid-November.

Qamar Zaman Kaira, the federal minister for Kashmir and Northern Areas, will act as governor till a new system is put in place. He said the order would now be sent to President Asif Ali Zardari for final consent before its implementation.

The legislative assembly will have 24 directly elected members, six seats for women and three for technocrats.

In order to empower the Council and the Assembly on financial matters, there shall be a Council Consolidated Fund under Article 54 of the Constitution, and Gilgit-Baltistan Consolidated Fund under Article 55.

A detailed item-wise budget shall be presented before the Gilgit-Baltistan Assembly and shall accordingly be voted upon under Article 56.

Qamar Zaman Kaira said a ‘supreme appellate court’ shall be headed by a chief judge who will be appointed by the Chairman of the Council on the advice of the governor.

Other judges shall be appointed by the chairman on the advice of the governor after seeking views of the Chief Judge, Mr Kaira added.

The number of judges has been increased from three to five and the tenure of the present judges of the Supreme Judiciary has been protected in the draft.

The new set-up will have a public service commission, a chief election commissioner and an auditor general.

CONDEMNATION
Amanullah Khan, chairman of the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF), said Islamabad had lost support of the Security Council over the years due to a ‘wavering stand’ on Kashmir and now it was squandering whatever goodwill it had by merging Gilgit-Baltistan with Pakistan.

Sabir Ansari, Raja Latif Tahir, Nazir Ahmed, Mushtaq Ghazali and Ghulam Ahmed Butt, all office-bearers of the Front, said that Jammu and Kashmir, including Gilgit-Baltistan, was an indivisible unit and Islamabad had no right to slice off any part of it.

They said every government had usurped fundamental rights of these areas and the present one had outdone its predecessors by turning the region into a fifth province.

They expressed fears that ‘real powers’ would rest with the governor, the president’s nominee who will not be answerable to Gilgit-Baltistan Legislative Assembly. Local people will have no constitutional protection, the JKLF statement said.

Nationalist parties in Hunza-Nagar rejected the Self Governance Order, describing it as old wine in a new bottle.

Hafizur Rehman, a member of the Northern Area Legislative Assembly, termed the package a gimmickry of words and said once again the centre was trying to hoodwink the people of the Northern Areas.

 

[Awesome]

Excellent decision, I would have preferred to see the NA in a number of new provinces - now ofcourse the province need a new name

What about getting the AJK government on board? I think they have never really contested that Northern Areas wasn't ever a part of Jammu and Kashmir, but still a consent from them would help legitimize the territory. Northern Areas are part of the disputed territory as recognized by the UN.

We must play by the book.

 

[Halaku Khan]

Delusions of autonomy for Gilgit - Baltistan | The Pakistani Spectator


By Guest Blogger • Aug 31st, 2009

The much awaited package of structural adjustment reforms was unveiled by the prime minister of Pakistan, Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani, after a cabinet meeting, today.

Despite of high claims of granting internal autonomy, a governor, to be appointed by the presdient, and the prime minister, himself, have been made the supreme authorities. The Gilgit – Baltistan Council would be chaired by the prime minister, who will not be elected by votes of the people of Gilgit – Baltistan, while an un-elected governor, to be appointed by the president, would act as vice – chairman of the council. This arrangement is being seen as a major ploy to control the elected representatives of Gilgit – Baltistan.

It is for the very first time, in history of the country, that a serving federal minister has been appointed governor of a political entity within Pakistan.

A new designation, called Chief Minister, has been created but the CM would not be authorized to form his cabinet. The governor would form a cabinet, albeit with “advise” of the chief minister. Also, the legislative assembly would not be able to elect the chief minister. He would be selected by the Gilgit – Baltistan Council. This power mechanism is also being seen as an explicit example of asserting real power players, in the future setup. It is being strongly felt that a powerful governor and a weak chief minister would overrun expectation of autonomy, at the grass roots, making the entire promise delusional and fraught with contradictions.

The Gilgit – Baltistan Legislative Assembly, not authorized to discuss a large number of vital issues related to governance of the region, would comprise of thirty eight members. Twenty four out of these thirty eight members would be elected directly from the districts, while seven females and an equal number of technocrats would also be part of the assembly. Two new seats have been added, one each for women and technocrats.

Some analysts are terming this a package for the region’s political elite, with no real benefit for the impoverished people of Gilgit – Baltistan.

The creation of a separate election commission, increasing the number of judges of the Supreme Appellate Court from 3 to 5 and establishment of a separate public service commission, however, offer some promise for the region, which has now been formally named Gilgit – Baltistan. Nevertheless, these institutions will be of no real significance in the absence of broader rights and authorities of real decision making.

Some quarters are seeing this move to rename a few positions in the region’s poltical setup and further complicate the heirarchies of democratic decision making, an attempt to divert attention from the issues raised over Diamer – Bhasha Dam, Bonji dam and other smaller dam projects that have been planned in the region.

Let’s remind the readers that Gilgit – Baltistan was a name suggested by the NALA, which has, now, been accepted by the federal cabinet.

By Noor Muhammad

 

[muse]

Get ready for more destabilization as Pakistan's relentless enemy will seek to ratchet up violence, in the name of Izlum of course:



Pakistan acts to guard Chinese interests
By Syed Fazl-e-Haider

QUETTA, Pakistan - Political and administrative reforms recently announced by Pakistan for its Northern Areas, from last week known officially as Gilgit Baltistan, are aimed at providing better security cover for the rapidly growing Chinese interests in the territory, according to analysts.

Gilgit, the Northern Areas capital, has acquired the status of a gateway to Central Asia in the wake of a Pakistan-China barter trade agreement and accords with Central Asian states.

China has invested heavily in a range of projects in the Northern Areas and is poised to launch several new projects, particularly in power sector, costing billions of dollars. Last month, during a visit by Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari to China, the countries signed a memorandum of understanding on construction of a hydro-power station at Bunji, in Gilgit Baltistan.

The countries also agreed in June to allow market access for bilateral trade in 11 services sectors and to intensify their efforts to increase border trade, which constitutes merely 5% of their overall trade, and takes place through the Karakoram Highway (KKH), whose repair and upgrade is likely to be completed by 2012.

Last week, the Pakistan government announced significant reforms for the Northern Areas, including renaming the area as Gilgit Baltistan through the federal cabinet's approval of the Gilgit Baltistan Empowerment and Self Governance Order, 2009. The area has not been given the status of the country's fifth province, though it will have a legislative assembly, a chief minister and a governor.

The people of Gilgit Baltistan had hitherto been denied any clear constitutional status and hence system of governance and the delivery of justice. This in part reflects the Kashmir issue, with India maintaining that the Northern Areas has been illegally occupied by Pakistan.

Historically, Gilgit Baltistan was not merged into Pakistan proper due to concern this might undermine the country's claim on Kashmir and it was not merged into Azad Jammu and Kashmir, the southernmost political entity within the Pakistan-controlled part of the former princely state of Jammu and Kashmir, because it could complicate a settlement on the area, said a recent editorial of the Dawn newspaper.

If Gilgit Baltistan is made a full-fledged province within the constitutional framework of Pakistan, India could perhaps argue that the state it has carved out of the disputed area, Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir, is also a legitimate entity and that it is a settled issue, the editorial said.

Beijing's profile in the Northern Areas has been rising for the past decade, with investments in a range of infrastructure projects. Important China-funded projects include the construction, maintenance and expansion of the KKH, small hydro-power projects, construction of a dry port at Sost, water-diversion channels, bridges, railway projects and telecommunication facilities.

The proposed Bunji dam is estimated to cost up to US$7 billion and will have a capacity to generate 7,000 megawatts of electricity. Under the deal, undertaken on a build-operate-transfer basis, all the investment will be made by Chinese entrepreneurs.

China and Pakistan also plan to link the KKH to the southern Pakistani port of Gwadar in southwestern Balochistan province through the Chinese-built Gwadar-Dalbandin railway, which extends up to the Pakistan garrison city of Rawalpindi.

The KKH, which connects China's Xinjiang province with the Northern Areas, has a strategic importance as it cuts through the collision zone between the Asian and Indian continents, where China, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, India and Pakistan come within 250 kilometers of each other. It connects the Northern Areas to the ancient Silk Road, which runs about 1,300 kilometers from Kashgar city in Xinjiang region, to Havelian in the Pakistan district of Abottabad. An extension of the highway meets the Grand Trunk road at Hasn Abdal, west of Islamabad.

Under a memorandum of understanding signed in June 2006 between China's state-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission and the Pakistani Highway Administration, the KKH will be widened from 10 meters to 30 meters, and its capacity will be increased three times. The upgraded road will also be constructed to particularly accommodate heavy-laden vehicles and extreme weather conditions.

The dry port at Sost, on the Pakistan-China border, is connected by the KKH to Karimabad, Gilgit and Chilas on the south and the Chinese cities of Tashkurgan, Upal and Kashgar in the north. The port has the potential to act as a conduit of trade for Central Asian states.

Islamabad is also poised to undertake the construction of the $12.6 billion Diamer-Bhasha dam, with a capacity to generate 4,500 MW of electricity per day. Work on the dam is to begin this month and is scheduled to be completed in 2016. The project, on the Indus River, is 165km downstream of Gilgit and 40km downstream of Chilas.

To support such developments, Pakistan expects an investment of $1.5 billion per year from European, Arab and Chinese companies willing to form a consortium on a build-operate-transfer basis on a "supplier's credit" basis.

China has already agreed to extend 10 billion rupees (US$121 million) supplier credit out of a total cost of 12 billion rupees for the construction of the Karakoram Highway to establish links with the Bhasha dam site to help to transport heavy machinery needed in its construction.

Syed Fazl-e-Haider, sfazlehaider05@yahoo.com, is a Quetta-based development analyst in Pakistan. He is the author of six books, including The Economic Development of Balochistan (2004).

 

[AgNoStiC MuSliM]

^^^ Very very strategic and important area now, some tremendous projects in the pipeline, and the inter-connectivity with the Gwadar project as well - absolutely correct Muse.

 

[Omar1984]

President signs Gilgit-Baltistan empowerment order ​

* Local PPP leader says Zardari has instructed administration to accelerate development in the area

ISLAMABAD/SKARDU: President Asif Ali Zardari on Monday signed the Gilgit-Baltistan Empowerment and Self-Governance Order 2009, aimed at introducing administrative, political, financial and judicial reforms in the Northern Areas.

Congratulating the people of Gilgit and Baltistan, the president said that it was befitting that a Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) government was reforming the set up in the Northern Areas, recalling the reforms of 1975 and 1994. Explaining the order to reporters, the president’s spokesman Farhatullah Babar said Gilgit-Baltistan would now have an elected legislative assembly, which would elect a chief minister, while a governor would be appointed by the president on the prime minister’s advice.

“It will also have its own Public Service Commission, a chief election commissioner and an auditor general,” he said. The CM would be assisted by six ministers and two advisers. The legislative assembly would have a total of 33 members, including six reserved seats for women and three for technocrats. This body would have the authority to make laws on 61 subjects. Babar said there would be a Gilgit-Baltistan Consolidated Fund and the annual budget would be presented to the assembly and voted upon.

The order said the name of the Northern Areas of Pakistan would be Gilgit-Baltistan and until the election of the legislative assembly, the minister for Kashmir Affairs and Northern Areas would act as the governor. The chief judge of the Supreme Appellate Court would be appointed by the chairman of the council on the governor’s advice and other judges would also be appointed on the governor ‘s advice in consultation with the chief judge. The number of judges would be increased to five.

Development: Also on Monday, PPP Gilgit-Baltistan President Syed Mehdi Shah said President Zardari had instructed the authorities concerned to prepare a comprehensive plan to accelerate development in Gilgit-Baltistan. Addressing a press conference, he said he had recently met President Zardari along with a 20-member delegation at the Presidency, where the president said the government had given internal freedom and all financial, democratic, administrative, judicial, political and developmental powers to the Legislative Assembly of Gilgit-Baltistan. He said the most important step would be the formation of the Gilgit-Baltistan Council, to be headed by the prime minister. Zardari also ordered the early initiation of the Gilgit-Skardu road project, the establishment of regional branches of the National Bank of Pakistan, National Database and Registration Authority and the House Building Finance Corporation. sajjad malik/app

 

[Omar1984]

Get ready for more destabilization as Pakistan's relentless enemy will seek to ratchet up violence, in the name of Izlum of course:



Pakistan acts to guard Chinese interests
By Syed Fazl-e-Haider

China's interst is Pakistan's interst. Pakistan shares mutual interst and mutual respect with China.

 

[Sinnerman108]

This whole northern Area fiasco...
you dont think it has some thing to do with the Agha Khan foundation ?
They own almost most of the business and banks,
now they have land for their use too.

 

[Omar1984]

This whole northern Area fiasco...
you dont think it has some thing to do with the Agha Khan foundation ?
They own almost most of the business and banks,
now they have land for their use too.

This isn't a fiasco and I dont think it has anything to do with the Agha Khan foundation.

Gilgit-Balitistan and Gwadar are the two most strategically important areas in Pakistan. Gilgit-Baltistan connects Pakistan to China and Central Asia, while Gwadar connects Pakistan to the Middle East. This government is making all the right moves to bring these two very important areas at par with the rest of the country.