Time to learn lesson from history

By Dj Mathal

When only three weeks are left for the crucial elections to the legislative assembly, people of Gilgit-Baltistan should not waste the opportunity to take right decision while using their right. It is the time the masses should take lesson history otherwise they will continue to remain deprived of their rights and further looted at the
hands of others. It is a fact that no nation is ever given its due rights before it demands and struggles for them.

It is unfortunate that for the last over 62 years the region of Gilgit-Baltistan has repeatedly been deceived in one form or the other and the tactics used against them have been: Play with the sentiments of the masses on the lines of religion, ethnicity and language; incite them into violence and then rule over them generations to generation.
Besides, so far there has risen no true leadership whether it is the council of the region, legislative assembly or the local municipal administration. Neither the repeated elections have brought to forth a true leadership for the people of the region. At present the situation shows that there is no single individual in the region who can be
termed a true leader of the two million people of Gilgit-Baltistan.
When a few decades earlier, parts of Gilgit-Baltistan were taken away and merged into the NWFP, there was no one except a few loyalists of the soil who could raise their voice against the move. There was no one who can lead the struggle against the injustices with the people and save the region from being looted of its resources by outsiders.
Even today when our liquid silver (water) is being plundered and occupied by others there is no one except those who are to be drowned to raise the alarm bells. And when some one raises a voice against such injustices, the conspirators against the nation brand them as traitors and forced them to leave the country and live in exile.
It is unfortunate that today in Gilgit-Baltistan politics has become confined to get contracts of development projects, betrayals from promises to achieve personal gains and trampling of ethics.
When we look at the performance of the past members of the houses it also becomes clear that their activities and performances had been limited to fulfillment of personal wishes, plundering of national resources, misuse of powers, and serving the cause of the Pakistani bureaucracy. The masses of the region have never seen any so called
leader utilizing his energies to fulfill promises of complete a public welfare projects for the good of the area people. However, such so called leaders have been very active in fanning sectarian hatred and division in the region besides looting the public wealth as and whenever they got the chance. The credit to divide the masses on the
lines of religion, language and regional groups surely goes to these so called elected representatives of the area.

Today it is only the result of this selfishness attitude that people are being killed on petty issues and there is no one to make such elements accountable for their acts.
What is the sole purpose of forming public representative
organizations? Of course, it is to bring into effect a civilized and evolutionary society. But it should be noted that the region of Gilgit-Baltistan has been drifting in an opposite direction as far as this basic sociological aspect is concerned. On paper it is true that all the shapes and essentialities of democracy are seen in the area but the fruits of democracy have never reached or given to the region by power that be.

When there is hardly three weeks to elect about 24 leaders of the region, opportunist elements have again become active reaching the streets and bazaars of the region with their usual colorful slogans to hoodwink and mislead the masses. And yet again the process of dividing the two million people of Gilgit-Baltistan on the basis of religion
and nationalities is on the rise and will definitely takes its tolls ion the area.
It is time we took the region out of not only the economic downfall but also from the social abyss which it is confronted with. This is a task for which we have to take prompt action on our own and through right use of our votes bring a change for our future good. Public welfare initiatives like construction of roads, opening up of new
schools and health care facilities would only be possible if we elected upright, honest, patriotic and selfless people to the assemblies. To bring changes through the ballots is possible when each and every voter realized the importance of his vote. If the single voter wants to bring a change in his life and for the lives of the coming generation, he has to use his vote carefully and elect the
right person. All parameters for progress and development of the region are available with us but the point is to properly use that parameters for our collective good.
It is also imperative that the educated class of Gilgit-Baltistan understand its role and not only use the votes correctly but also cerate public awareness in the region to bring a change through the votes. This time if we did not realize our obligations and responsibilities, it might be too late for the next such chance to get to the rightful path to progress.