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New Setup is but a fairy tale By Dj Mathal
THE most disappointing aspect in Gilgit-Baltistan is that uneducated, ignorant and ineligible people have always occupied the helms of affairs in the region while the people, who are less educated, have also happened to be simple and blindly trust everyone. These people, entangled in their own economic problems and deprivation, have never got the luxury to think beyond their close proximity into what ailed their political system or the society as a whole. On the other hand, the selfish leadership never tires to give them lies after lies and continues the mantra which has no basis.
The latest drama and joke with the people has been staged by the leadership of the PPP which has started trumpeting that the federal government is in the process of finalizing a system of set-up to ensure all basic constitutional, economic and political rights to the masses of Ggilgit-Baltistan in accordance with their wishes and aspirations. However, the reality of the matter is that the ministry of northern areas and Kashmir affairs has so far even not discussed the issue neither there is any record of such a deliberation. In fact, during the last days of former president Pervez Musharraf, a meeting was held at the Presidency in which Musharraf was given a briefing on the region but the matter died down there at that very moment after the Foreign Office opposed any proposal to change the status of Northern Areas. It is said that the president had, during the meeting, also told his foreign secretary that without any reason you people remain scared and also make us scared while India does whatever it wishes without caring for us.
This is also true that Pakistan cannot change the status of Gilgit-Baltistan. The hollow slogan of Kashmir Bane Ga Pakistan has snatched many things from Pakistan and now there is no way to concoct another such attractive but misleading and dubious slogan. It is time that all facts relating to the issue should be made public.
One of the facts is that Pakistan should not repeat its mistakes committed in Kashmir again in Gilgit-Baltistan. It was Pakistan's big mistake to give an assembly, posts of president, prime minister and the institution of a supreme court to Azad Kashmir. Today the situation in this part of Kashmir is such that neither it is a state nor part of Pakistan. If this disputed area spreading over 13,297 square km is amalgamated into Pakistan, in response India would make the 222,236 square km under its control as part of its constitution. The Indian constitution's act under which Kashmir is governed can be changed by a simple majority. Pakistan after taking over the part of Kashmir named it as Azad (free) Kashmir in order to give it a semblance of separate status and today it cannot make the area its part, because there will be opposition to the step. And neither the incumbent prime minister and president will like to become chief minter/governor if the state is made a province.
The second fact is that Pakistani rulers and other authorities are not prepared to accept Gilgit-Baltistan as a disputed region. Nobody is ready to link the region with the Kashmir issue.
The third fact is that due to lack of leadership, nobody considers our issues worthy of consideration. Our so-called political leaders and advisers spend their days in visiting the KANA division to resolve their own petty issues while Mr Qamar Zaman Kaira due to its closeness with Asif Ali Zardari has been made the minister of Northern Areas who seems to be champion of national politics in TV talk shows but has no concern with the issues of Gilgit-Baltistan.
There are a plethora of other facts but we do not want to discuss them here. The crux of the matter is that now PPP is in power and it is the turn of this party to lie to the people of Gilgit-Baltistan. If this government wanted, it could start calling the advisers as ministers and the chief executive as chief minister and the federal minister instead of chairman can become governor of the region. But this will be done under the LFO, not the constitution.
Our objective is that instead of even talking about such types of rhetoric, the people of Gilgit-Baltistan should get themselves united on a single platform to materialize the dream of a separate state for the region. They will get nothing while living either under Pakistan or India. These two countries are like the proverbial cat which drinks the milk and destroys the remaining part lest it is consumed by others. A separate and powerful constituent assembly is the solution to our problem and this is only possible in a separate state.
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