Wake up, youth of GB

By Dj Mathal

When the youth and the elderly people of Gilgit-Baltistan will realize their responsibilities? Will they wake up from the deep slumber when the last kneel is struck into the coffin of their slavery? Why we are so indifferent to protect and safeguard our national sanctity?
The electioneering for the legislative assembly has reached its climax in Gilgit-Baltistan and as usual opportunists and old faces are roaming the roads and streets of the region ready to take the destiny of the two million people of the region in their hands once again by using all means, legal or illegal. Everyone desiring to get undue powers to decide the fate of the masses is seen resorting to all
tactics crossing the limits of decency, cultural, social norms and national pride.
On the other hand look at the turn of events all with bad omen for the region that a landlord from Lala Musa has become the governor of Gilgit-Baltistan. Qamar Zaman Kaira has not only been made the federal minister for information and broadcasting but also bestowed with the lordship of all powerful governor of Gilgit-Baltistan. Look at the drama or the characteristics of the so called Pakistani package that
when this man stays in the region he enjoys all the protocol of a king but when he rides his aircraft back to Islamabad he becomes a mere minister. It means the governor of Gilgit-Baltistan is treated like a federal minister in other parts of the country and he is even not treated at par with the governors of provinces like the NWFP, Punjab,
Balochistan or Sindh.
Besides all these, Mr Kaira is lucky enough that he has got plenty of so called political leaders in Gilgit-Baltistan who are ever ready to offer their loyalties to him even more humbly than the common voters in his own constituency of Lala Musa do.
It is a fact that the local so called political leaders are
responsible for the agony and slavery of Gilgit-Baltistan and never tire of calling themselves federalists by opening the branch offices of Pakistani political parties in the region. In reality, these are opportunist people and have nothing to do with the federation. Though Gilgit-Baltistan is not part of Pakistan and therefore Pakistani political parties cannot set up their parties here but the Pakistani
establishment in collusion with the opportunist local parties has been organizing Pakistani parties in this region by force.
Time has come the elderly people and the youth of Gilgit-Baltistan look around and take stock of the slavery surrounding them from all sides and take bold decisions to get rid of it. They also have to ponder over the fact that where has their identity gone and why the two million people of the region are running from pillar to post in
search of basic necessities of life despite the fact that their region is full of resources. Our elderly people, youth and women have to recognize their common enemies and expose them. It is a fact that Gilgit-Baltistan is a self sufficient region as far as its requirements and resources are concerned. We also have more than enough human resources to run our own affairs in accordance with the
wishes and requirements of the region. We do not need anyone else from other parts of the country to come here and teach us the lessons of governance.
It is sad that opportunist politicians have been using the innocent people of Gilgit-Baltistan and promoting the political culture alien to the area. Today we can see the echoes of characterless political activity that can be expected in the streets of other cities of the
country but not in Gilgit-Baltistan which has its own unique culture, history and identity. One such example was shown by those elected in the 2004 elections in the region demonstrated lotacracy who joined the Q League after reaching the assembly Today the people of the region have lost all hopes of their so called leaders and are at a loss to whom they should vote. When they look around, they see the same old faces with opportunist history in the
run again to grab power by all means. There are also people who had joined the Q League for their vested interests and are now trying to jump the bandwagon of the ruling PPP and the PML-N. The memory of the people here is not so short. They very well remember that when in 1996 a Jiala turned president Farooq Ahmad Khan dismissed the government of Benazir Bhutto, the so called leaders who had lost
the then council polls had lost no time to pay tributes to Leghari and alleged cases of corruption against the government of Ms Bhutto.
It is a tragedy for Gilgit-Baltistan that the same person is occupying one of the two key seats of the PPP and trying to sing the songs of the party in the region. The situation is the same in each and every constituency of the region.
People of the region should lose no more time to distinguish their true leaders from those who have been hoodwinking them fro the last over six decades at the cost of national solidarity and identity. It is also time we take bold steps and make the local people masters of
their God gifted resources. If we did not take right decision the next generation will not forgive us our mistakes and they will be living in perpetual slavery at the hands of others.