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Analysis
Gilgit-Baltistan
Amalgamation: India Must React
by
Alok Bansal
With the signing of the Gilgit-Baltistan
(Empowerment and Self-Governance) Order 2009 by President Asif Ali
Zardari Sep 7, the Pakistan government has taken the first step towards
amalgamating this strategically significant part of the former princely
state of Jammu and Kashmir into Pakistan. The Pakistan Peoples Party
(PPP) government has patted itself on the back for undertaking
far-reaching administrative, political, financial and judicial reforms
in this region.
The order ostensibly offers autonomy to this region which till date had
neither any status under the Pakistani constitution nor any modicum of
self-governance. The region has since 1947 been governed by bureaucrats
from Pakistan as a colony, without any avenue whatsoever of any judicial
review. The order, signed by the president and aimed at giving more
internal and political autonomy to the region, was unanimously approved
by the Pakistan government Aug 29.
The order renames the region as
Gilgit-Baltistan -- it was hitherto called 'Northern Areas' --
fulfilling a longstanding demand of the residents. It also gives the
region a local administration headed by a 'Chief Minister', a post that
did not exist. The chief minister will be elected by the
Gilgit-Baltistan legislative assembly and will head a council of
ministers, comprising six ministers and two advisers. The legislative
assembly will consist of 24 directly elected members as well as six
women and three technocrats who will be elected by the members.
The order proposes some financial autonomy for the region. A
consolidated fund has accordingly been created. The budget for the
region will be presented and approved by the assembly. It also
incorporates a judicial set-up with the establishment of an appellate
court, comprising a chief justice and two other judges; there is a
provision in the order to eventually increase the strength of the court
to five. The order has provision for a separate public service
commission, a chief election commissioner and an auditor general for the
region.
However, the devil lies in the detail. Neither the chief minister nor
the legislative assembly will have any worthwhile powers. The real
powers will be with the governor of Gilgit-Baltistan who will be
appointed by the president of Pakistan on the advice of the prime
minister. Unlike the provinces of Pakistan, he will be an outsider. As
of now, Minister of Kashmir and Northern Areas Qamar Zaman Kaira has
been appointed governor till a new person is appointed.
Although a legislative assembly will be
elected, the real powers will be with the council, whose chairman will
be the prime minister of Pakistan and most of whose members will be
appointees of the Pakistani government. Although the number of subjects
on which the assembly can make law has been increased from 49 to 61, the
council retains the exclusive power to legislate on 55 issues which are
of much greater significance.
Certain issues like defense, foreign affairs and security are beyond the
purview of both the assembly and the council. The chief justice of the
appellate court will be appointed by the chairman of the council on the
advice of the governor; other judges will also be appointed by the
chairman on the advice of the governor after seeking views of the chief
justice. The order says that the budget will be presented to the
assembly and passed by it. However, what is significant is that it will
be prepared by bureaucrats.
Similarly all members of the public service commission, the auditor
general or the election commissioner will be either the direct or
indirect appointees of the Pakistan government. Similarly all the key
functionaries of the administration like the chief secretary, the
finance secretary and the inspector general of police will be Pakistani
bureaucrats deputed from outside. It is significant that the region has
no representation in either the Pakistani parliament or the council of
ministers, which will have the final say in the future set-up of the
region.
It is thus quite clear that all the real executive, legislative and
judicial powers will vest with outsiders or their appointees, whereas
the Assembly or the Council of minister will in reality be toothless
tigers.
The fact that the terminologies like the governor and the chief minister
have been used, rather than the 'President' and 'Prime Minister', which
are used for the heads of so-called 'Azad Kashmir', indicates a more
sinister design to the whole exercise.
These cosmetic changes are intended to give an impression of autonomy,
whereas the real attempt is to separate this strategic region, which has
been an inalienable part of the state of Jammu and Kashmir since 1866,
from the other part of Pakistani Kashmir to eventually gobble it. Right
from 1947, Pakistan has systematically worked towards this end.
Immediately after occupation, it
separated the State of Chitral, a vassal of the Maharaja of Kashmir,
from the region and incorporated it in the North West Frontier Province
(NWFP). In 1975, it abrogated the State Subject Rule, which had been set
up to prevent outsiders from acquiring land or settling down in the
region. After the abrogation, there has been a constant influx of Sunni
Pakhtoons in this predominantly Shia region and the demographic profile
has changed significantly.
The local leaders from the region as well as from other parts of
Pakistan-administered Kashmir have severely denounced the order.
According to Abdul Hamid Khan, chairman of the Balwaristan National
Front, the order will further consolidate Pakistan's hold on the region.
According to Manzoor Hussain Parwana, the chairman of the
Gilgit-Baltistan United Movement, it is a ploy to perpetuate Pakistan's
rule in the region. The Karakoram National Movement and the Jammu and
Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) have also criticized the move.
In the past Indian response to the developments in the region has been
quite muted. It is time India took up strongly the grievances of the
inhabitants of this region, who are legally Indian citizens.
September 10, 2009
(The author, an editor of the book "Pakistan
Occupied Kashmir: The Untold Story" is a senior researcher at the
Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (IDSA). He can be contacted
at
alokbansal_nda@yahoo.co.in)
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