Window to Gilgit-Baltistan

By   Syed Shamsuddin   INDEED the smooth-sailing transition to the 2nd caretaker government upon completion of its term by the outgoing PML-N government augurs well. It would certainly pave the way in the like manner, for the polls in a congenial atmosphere to get the process going equally smoothly.  The prospective elections for GBLA will be 3rd election holding promise of an uninterrupted continuity since the very first government formed after the general GBLA elections in the wake of promulgation of Gilgit-Baltistan Governance Order, 2009. Governor Gilgit-Baltistan Raja Jalal Hussain Maqpon administered oath to the caretaker Chief Minister Mir Afzal Khan the day before after he latter’s selection and appointment was notified by the federal government vide notification as follows: “Pursuant to Article 48-A(2) of the Government of Gilgit-Baltistan Order, 2018, the Chairman of the Gilgit-Baltistan Council in consultation with the incumbent Chief Minister, Gilgit-...

By   Syed Shamsuddin   GB’s Economic Throes: IN THE DAYS of yore, each household of the GB.s populace in addition to subsistence farming, tend cattle, sheep and goats in each valley as the fundamental means of the support system and as the scarce vegetation then would suffice the barest minimum needs of those communities not that large in size. In the changed scenarios, the prospects alarmingly dwindled away obviously because of population explosion being out-of-step exerting pressure on the available resources of the region. The inadequacy of the means of sustenance here become fundamentally attributable to the dearth of land as well as vegetation with there being absolutely no prospects whatsoever of giving a proportionate boost to these olden practices. Gone are the days when manure instead of the present chemical fertilizers was used in the context of mountain farming for organic food. Generally speaking, livestock breeding underpins mountain farming and hence is ...

By Syed Shams Uddin RECENT print media reports speculate that the present government is mulling plans to introduce yet another package to be called the ‘Governance Reforms in Gilgit-Baltistan’ to replace the Order 2018 brought out by the previous government. The draft reportedly envisages renaming Gilgt-Baltistan Legislative Assembly as ‘legislative assembly’ while vesting the authority of remission or otherwise of sentences and reprieves, in the chairman council instead of the president of Pakistan. There is no mention of Sartaj Aziz Committee recommendations. On the whole, the proposed ‘governance reforms 2018’ is said to have mainly been centered on the Governance Order 2009 with the revival of most the clauses contemplated therein. Yet another feature of the draft under reference is the enhancement of the federal quota of jobs whilst redefining the citizenship. Earlier, a deadlock between the province and the federation over the ‘reforms package’ on the anvil was reported in...

By  Tahir Mehdi   GILGIT-BALTISTAN has spoken loud and clear. It has given an unambiguous mandate to the party ruling at the centre. This is no surprise as in the previous elections too the then-ruling PPP had mustered similar numbers. The PPP had taken all three major legal initiatives (in 1974, 1994 and 2009) to improve governance in this area. Being the sole champion of popular causes, it had deep roots in local politics. In this context, the PML-N can happily interpret the recent mandate as the democratic approval of its policy of infrastructure development, the cornerstone of which is the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor. The party has secured, politically, the starting point of this ambitious road network. On the flip side, this enthusiastic yes to the Nawaz League must have raised expectations of GB’s people for reciprocity from Islamabad. And that’s exactly where Islamabad has always failed them. GB was given the local legislature in its pr...

By Aziz Ali Dad    - Originally Published on DAWN. The famous Silk Route has witnessed many vicissitudes for more than two millennia. This route was disrupted many times because of political events engulfing the regions spanning from Ch’ang-an, modern day Sian to the Mediterranean region and Europe. However trade on the Silk Route continued to flourish because its multiple arteries enabled traders to dodge political upheavals and geographic hurdles. During the 20th century, areas along the Silk Route witnessed redrawing of boundaries on the basis of modern nation-states. As a result, mobility between areas around the Silk Route became difficult. At the same time, new road and railway network further reduced the significance of this route. Despite restrictions on mobility, a small amount of barter trade between Pakistan and China continued informally on the borders. This helped maintain a symbolic continuum of the Silk Route in the mountainous regions of China, W...