Stop pointing fingers at others

After failing to response to questions regarding the fast rising trend of lawlessness, tension, terrorist activities and administrative malpractices in Gilgit-Baltistan, the puppet chief minister recently tried to blame nationalist leader and exiled Chairman of Balawaristan National Front (BNF) Abdul Hamid Khan for the sectarian violence, killings and terror incidents in the region. Mehdi Shah said that like in Balochistan the nationalists in Gilgit-Baltistan were behind the deteriorating law and order situation in the region and have rebelled against the state and adopted the path of lawlessness, terrorism and sectarianism. Mehdi Shah also said that the exemplary peace in the region had been spoiled due to the activities of the nationalists and, therefore, they should be dealt with an iron hand.If we study the statements of the puppet chief minister, it becomes very clear that he is still ignorant of the happenings in the region during the last about 40 years, because each and every person in the region knows very well about the actual causes and factors behind the situation persisting in Gilgit-Baltistan. By raising fingers at the exiled chief of the Balawaristan National Front, the puppet and dummy chief minister has made it clear that he has no quality to rule the region because he knows nothing about the local affairs. He only has tried to make the BNF, which is working for the rights of the people at the local as well as international level, a victim of the state oppression.The fact of the matter is that Mehdi Shah himself is a non-local person and belongs to a settler family. He has no knowledge of the history of the region and this was why he was selected for the post of the chief minister by the rulers sitting in Islamabad. Knowledgeable people are aware of the facts that it was during the '70s when armed persons brought into the region meted out cruelties to the local population, including occupying their resources, leading to the present situation. Subsequently, the enemies of the local also succeeded in putting together a group of local traitors who later started playing with the blood of the locals at the behest of their non-local masters sitting outside the region. They kept attacking the businesses and trades of the local people, occupied the whole economy, plundered their natural resources and even deprived the people of their identity. These were the people on whose shenanigans the state subject rule was abolished in the region giving a chance to outsiders to come to the region and occupy the land at will and gradually turn the local population into a minority in their own land.The BNF chief while rubbishing the absurd allegations and utterances of the puppet chief minister Mehdi Shah has appealed to the international community to take notice of the allegations and take action against Shah and stop the killing of the local people through the conspiracy of the outsiders. He said the international community, especially the UN, should play their due role in ensuring the rights of the local people of Gilgit-Baltistan and empower them to run their affairs on their own. It is also well-known to the public that for the last about 20 the nationalists have continued their struggle for achieving the rights of the locals but never ever they have resorted to the use of arms in the region. In 1988, struggle for independence in Jammu Kashmir gained momentum and the people took arms against Indian forces, which is still continuing. However, this is another question who have been supporting the armed struggle till now. On the other hand, nationalists of Gilgit-Baltistan have kept their struggle to democratic and peaceful ways. But the state forces have used all means against them to sabotage the struggle for their rights.Mehdi Shah's remarks have created a strange situation in the region. It is strange that a man who claims to be the ruler of the region seems helpless in front of the media in defending his performances and holds responsible Mr Abdul Hamid Khan of the BNF who is compelled to live in exile. It means that a man sitting abroad is so strong that he has turned the state machinery paralyzed and the rulers are unable to check him.Mehdi Shah has acknowledges his weaknesses and also exposed his worth and capability in front of the media and, therefore, he should now quit the post and study the issue of Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan.It is a fact that Pakistan in order to perpetuate its illegal rule in Gilgit-Baltistan has continued its strong arms tactics in the region since the '70s. Since 1947, Islamabad has been taking cover under dubious agreements to control the region but its colonial tactics have helped it plunder the resources of the region without any check. It is a bad luck for the whole region that people like Mehdi Shah have been playing at the hands of the usurpers only for their own vested interests. Mehdi Shah has reached the stage by doing politics at the platforms of a party headed by outsiders and today he claims to be the chief executive of the region but in reality he is not in a position to even appoint a peon. The BNF and its chairman Abdul Hamid Khan believe in the principles of nationalism, local culture, freedom, democracy and peaceful struggle for rights and continue struggle for attainment of these principles. To the BNF and its chairman Abdul Hamid Khan, friendship between two nations can only be possible on the basis of respecting each other's culture, freedom, religion and equality.Time has come our people differentiate between those who are their well wishers struggling for their due rights and those who have been out to eliminate their culture, identity and plunder their resources.

(www.bangesahar.com)