ISLAMABAD: Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) is also part of the Kashmir dispute and
the Government of Pakistan does not have an answer when asked about GB’s legal
status, said Awami Workers Party (AWP) president and Supreme Court advocate
Abid Hassan Minto on Monday.
Talking to participants of a seminar titled ‘Gilgit-Baltistan: Democracy or
a Colonial System?’ he said anyone who speaks against the establishment’s
policy is made to face the consequences.
“Just one secretary has the power to run the affairs of Kashmir and GB and
now the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is passing through GB. However,
controversies are arising which are harming the project,” he said.
He said that the UN, India and Pakistan were not interested in resolving
the Kashmir issue. According to the agreement between Quaid-i-Azam and
Jawaharlal Nehru at the time of partition, states had the right to remain
independent if they wanted, he added, and that heads of states also had the
right to decide on the matter.
“In Kashmir, the people wanted to be part of Pakistan while the Maharaja
wanted to be part of India. The Nizam of Hyderabad wanted to be part of
Pakistan while its people wanted to be with India,” he said.
“Pakistan has been talking about Kashmir and holding a referendum but has
not contacted any international body in the last 70 years to address the issue.
If the Kashmir matter is solved, there will be no tension between Pakistan and
India and the establishment will not get one-fourth of the country’s budget,”
he added.
The Army has ruled the country for 35 years but never bothered to take the
issue to the International Court of Justice, he added.
“Some elements just want to keep the issue alive and don’t want to solve
it. On the other hand, India is an emerging power and no one wants to go
against it,” he said.
Other speakers at the event demanded that Baba Jan and the other 11
political activists who were sentenced to 70 years in prison be released.
They said all the prisoners had done was to show solidarity with the
victims of the 2010 Attabad landslide.
Baba Jan is a well known social and political activist in GB and an AWP
federal committee member.
He is serving his sentence with 11 other activists on charges of terrorism.
He was arrested while protesting the shooting of a father and son by the police
in a demonstration in support of the landslide.
AWP Punjab President Dr Aasim Sajjad Akhtar said the people of Pakistan need
to re-assess their relationship with GB.
“On the one hand, the mountains of GB are portrayed as a symbol of the
natural beauty in Pakistan and on the other, the state refuses to
constitutionally recognise GB as part of the country. The beauty of its mountains
and lakes hide the long political struggle for social justice and equality in
GB,” he said.
Representative of the Jammu and Kashmir National Awami Party, Prof Mark
Khaleeq said that instead of allowing the people of Kashmir and GB to decide
their future, the establishment has been taking decisions for them.
“The people of Kashmir will continue expressing solidarity with the people
of GB. The Supreme Court has also decided that GB is not part of Pakistan. So,
state agencies should stop interfering in its matters,” he said.
AWP GB President Zahoor Elahi said the problems in the region will increase
if state agencies continue to interfere in the matters of Gilgit-Baltistan.
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