Peshawar: Several people have been injured in Pakistan in clashes between police and protesters during a demonstration against the so-called Gilgit-Baltistan order, media reports said. Pakistan PM Shahid Khaqan Abbasi has seized more authority from the local council to deal with the affairs of the disputed region through the Gilgit-Baltistan Order 2018 which was passed on May 21.
The order is seen as Islamabad’s efforts towards incorporating the disputed region as its fifth province. Police fired tear gas shells and resorted to aerial firing in Gilgit last week to stop protesters approaching towards Gilgit-Baltistan Assembly for a scheduled sit-in against the order. Politicians, cutting across party lines, held protest rallies across Gilgit-Baltistan demanding constitutional rights for the region.
The Gilgit-Baltistan government has promulgated the Gilgit-Baltistan Order-2018, which replaced the Gilgit-Baltistan Empowerment and Self-Governance Order of 2009. However, the new order has failed to impress local politicians who announced region-wide protests. “We will continue our sit-in outside the Assembly till this package is revoked and we are given constitutional rights,” said Awami Action Committee (AAC) chairman Sultan Raees. Civil rights groups in Pakistan have also criticised the order.
Pakistan has bifurcated occupied Kashmir into two administrative parts - Gilgit-Baltistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK). Gilgit-Baltistan was treated as a separate geographical entity by Pakistan untill now. Balochistan, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Punjab and Sindh are the four provinces of Pakistan. A Cabinet meeting, chaired by PM Abbasi last week, was informed that Gilgit-Baltistan Council will be retained as advisory body towards the functions of the federal government.
China’s $50 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) passes through the disputed region. It is believed that China’s concerns about the unsettled status of Gilgit-Baltistan prompted Pakistan to change its status. Dawn reported that under the new order, all powers exercised by the Gilgit Baltistan council, including passing legislation regarding mineral, hydropower and tourism sectors, have been shifted to the Gilgit-Baltistan Assembly.
India protests against Gilgit-Baltistan order
India summoned Pakistani deputy high commissioner Syed Haider Shah to protest against a recent Pakistan government order to change the status of Gilgit-Baltistan. India told the diplomat that the entire state of J&K, which also includes Gilgit-Baltistan, was an integral part of India, and Pakistan had no legal basis for its actions. In an order on May 21, the Pakistani cabinet said Gilgit-Baltistan would enjoy the same rights as the other four provinces - a move seen as a way to integrate the disputed territory into Pakistan. “It (cabinet) was also informed that with the devolution of greater administrative and financial powers to the government of Gilgit-Baltistan, all the rights will be available to the citizens in Gilgit-Baltistan as available to the people in other provinces of Pakistan," a statement said.
Pakistan had been planning to integrate this area to make it easier for China’s CPEC to pass through it. At present, India remains implacably opposed to China’s corridor because of the sovereignty aspect. India maintains that any possible attempt by Pakistan to declare the Gilgit-Baltistan region, bordering the disputed Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, as the fifth province is “entirely unacceptable”.
