The area will have its own legislative assembly, council and cabinet.The chief of the assembly will be leader of the house while the cabinet will be headed by a chief minister. The constitutional head of the region will be a governor, while the prime minister of Pakistan will be the head of the council. The governor of the region will be appointed by the president in consultation with the prime minister.

 

The post of the governor can also be handed over to the federal minister for Northern Areas. Till election for the house in November, Qamar Zaman Kaira will work as interim governor.The Gilgit-Baltistan Assembly or Council, however, cannot discuss or legislate on issues relating to defence, foreign affairs, finance, security and interior.Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani announced the self-rule package for the region under the Gilgit-Baltistan Empowerment and Self-Rule Order 2009 after it was okayed by the federal cabinet on Saturday.

 

The draft of the orderwill be implemented after final approval by the president.In the first chapter of the constitutional draft, definitions have been mentioned about the legislative assembly, citizens, council, chairman, financial year, Gilgit-Baltistan, governor, judges, speaker and vice-chairman. In the second chapter, laws have been formulated and mentioned about human rights.

 

Nobody can be held in custody for more than 24 hours without presenting him before a court of law. Everyone arrested by the police shall have the right to defend himself in the court of law. All types of bounded labour will be prohibited; however, there will be no law to allow anyone to work against the ideology of Pakistan. Each citizen will enjoy the right to practice his religion according to his belief without any check.

 

There will be no monopoly of any religion or sect and all citizens will have equal rights.In chapter 3 of the draft, the process of the appointment of the governor has been discussed. Till appointment of the first governor, the minister for Kashmir affairs and northern areas will be working as governor.

 

To become governor, the candidate should be at least 35 years of age and has the qualification to become member of the local legislative assembly or National Assembly of Pakistan. The salary and privileges of the governor will be determined by the president of Pakistan. The tenure of the governor will not be fixed and he will be holding the office as desired by the president.In the fourth chapter, details about the government and its authority ahs been discussed.

 

The governor will be the constitutional head and executive authority of the region who will be utilizing his powers through the chief minister and the cabinet. The members of the legislative assembly will be elected directly. The governor will convene the meeting of the assembly 30 days after the election to elect the speaker, deputy speaker and the chief minister.

 

The selection of the cabinet of Gilgit-Baltistan will be done by the governor instead of the chief minister; however, for this the recommendation of the CM will be a must. The chief minister will also have advisers which will be selected by the CM in consultation with the governor. The chief minister will select parliamentary secretaries. As many as 20 members of the 33-member house can table a no-confidence motion against the chief minister which can be passed through a majority votes. On the success of the no-trust move, the chief minister and the cabinet can lose their posts.

 

The law officer of the government will be called advocate general who will be appointed by the governor.The Gilgit-Baltistan Council will consist of 15 members including six members recommended by the president, prime minister of Pakistan and the governor of Gilgit-Baltistan and six members proposed by the chief minister and legislative assembly of the region. The minister for Kashmir affairs will be member of the council; however he will not have the voting power.

 

The chairman of the council will be the prime minister of Pakistan, while governor of Gilgit-Baltistan will be its vice-president.The legislative assembly will consist of 33 members out of whom 24 will be elected directly; six women members will be selected by the house, while there will be three technocrat members. To take part in the election, the age of the candidate should be 25 years and he/she should be registered as a voter in area of the region.Chapter 7 discusses the powers of the legislative assembly while chapter 8 is about Islamic values and declares that the assembly of Gilgit-Baltistan will have no power to legislate against the principles of Sharia and in case of any confusion it can approach the Islamic Ideology Council of Pakistan. Chapter 9 is about financial matters and budget of the region while chapter 10 discusses issuance of ordinances and chapter 11 lays down appointment and jurisdiction of the judiciary.

 

The region will have a supreme appellate court which will hear appeals against verdicts of all subordinate courts in the area. The court will consist of one chief judge and two other judges. Besides, there will also be a supreme judicial council. The chief judge will be the chairman of the council while one judge of the supreme judicial council and chief judge of the chief court will be its members. The chief court of the region will comprise a chief judge and four judges.The region will also have its own public service commission and a chief election commissioner.