Attention chief justice of Pakistan!

Weekly Baang Karachi  Tuesday, April 7.......13, 2009

Honorable Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhdy, with due respect it is stated that being a newspaper of a very backward area like Gilgit-Baltistan which is still deprived of its fundamental rights, we consider it our responsibility to raise voice for solution of all problems being faced in the region. Gilgit-Baltistan is a restive region where people have nowhere to go to seek justice because constitutionally this area is not part of Pakistan though there are many claimants to the region. As it is under the administrative control of Pakistan, it is the responsibility of Islamabad to meet all the humanitarian needs and requirements of the over two million people of this region and ensure availability of all such rights without which a civilized society cannot even be thought of.

Honorable chief justice of Pakistan, you are well aware of the fact that Gilgit-Baltistan has no representation in any of the constitutional bodies of Pakistan; neither there exists any law to ensure basic necessities of life to the people of the region. Even the people have no access to your apex court which has now become independent in the true sense of the word. Is this not an injustice that the Supreme Court of a country which has been ruling this region for the last 61 years cannot even hear a case relating to the area? It may have been justified in the past because the judiciary was not free then. But now we look to you as the chief justice of an independent and vigorous Supreme Court and champion of a free judiciary and present our case to your court.

Dear Sir, we would like to remind you that in the year 1999, a five-member bench of the Supreme Court headed by the then chief justice in a petition filed by the Al-Jihad Trust had directed the government of Pakistan to prepare a modus operandi for proving all constitutional rights to the people of Gilgit-Baltistan within six months. The verdict had rekindled hope in all parts of Gilgit-Baltistan and everyone was expecting that better late than never the region would now be given its due rights and identity because of the decision of the apex court. The people were sure that from now onwards they would also be living as free citizens like 160 million people of Pakistan. But it is again unfortunate that since 1999, the six months� period given by the apex court to the government of Pakistan never completed.

Sir, the writ petition lying in page 1,379 of the monthly report of the Supreme Court of Pakistan, SCMR-1999, still awaits someone to implement it for the good of the two million people. The Al-Jihad Trust petition filed under Section 184 sub-section 3 had prayed the court to direct the government to ensure basic constitutional and political rights to the people living under its control.

Sir, at the beginning of this summer when the flowering season has also reached the horizons of Pakistan�s judicial and political atmospheres, the people of Gilgit-Baltistan should also be included in the celebrations and happiness so far denied to them. You are requested to take suo motu notice of the matter and ensure implementation of the Supreme Court decision of 1999 and also take action against those who hindered the implementation of the court verdict and caused frustration among the people.

If you look at the case of the two million people of Gilgit-Baltistan it is full of violations of human rights guaranteed under the 1973 Constitution, denial of basic political and constitutional rights, treason, and conspiracies to weaken the foundations of the country.

From the Editor and two million people of Gilgit-Baltistan