Two years of abrogation of Article 370: Pakistan’s preparation to make the illegally occupied area a new Province

Pakistani media reports have claimed that Pakistan has started work on a law to make Gilgit-Baltistan a province.
Image Credit: India TV News
Image Credit: India TV News

The Government of India withdrew the special status given to Jammu and Kashmir on 5 August 2019. Today this decision has been completed for 2 years. In response to this, now Pakistan has also started the exercise of making Gilgit-Baltistan a separate province. Pakistani media reports have claimed that Pakistan has started work on a law to make Gilgit-Baltistan a province.

India has made it clear that the Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh, including Gilgit-Baltistan, are an integral part of India. Pakistan cannot justify its encroachment. India claims that the illegal and forcibly occupied territories do not come under the jurisdiction of the Government of Pakistan or its judiciary. Let us know why Gilgit-Baltistan is so important to us? How big is this area than PoK? What will this change?

First of all, know what Pakistan is doing?

Pakistan's Ministry of Law and Justice has drafted the law, which is being called the 26th Constitution Amendment Bill. According to Pakistan's newspaper Dawn, the proposed law seeks to abolish the Supreme Appellate Court (SAC) of Gilgit-Baltistan and merge the region's election commission with the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).
According to Dawn's report, this draft bill is ready and is currently with Prime Minister Imran Khan. This draft bill has been made keeping in mind the Constitution of Pakistan, international law and UN resolutions on Kashmir, constitutional laws, and local law. The governments of Gilgit-Baltistan and PoK have also been consulted before drafting the proposed Constitution Amendment Bill.

What is the connection between Gilgit-Baltistan and India?

  • Gilgit-Baltistan is in the northwest of the Kashmir Valley in the Trans-Himalayan region. It was part of the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir. Then this princely state was divided into five regions – Jammu, Kashmir, Ladakh, Gilgit Wajahat, and Gilgit Agency.
  • Of the part of India that Pakistan has occupied since 1947, only 15% of the area is in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK). 85% is in Gilgit-Baltistan or Northern Areas. It is the main area of ​​the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). Indus river enters Pakistan through Gilgit-Baltistan.
Image Credit: Dainik bhaskar
Image Credit: Dainik bhaskar

When did Gilgit-Baltistan separate from India?

  • In 1947. In fact, after the formation of the USSR in 1917, British India took the Gilgit Agency on a 60-year lease from the Maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir in 1935. But when India became independent, after 15 days Gilgit also came under Maharaja Harisingh.
  • On 26 October 1947, when Hari Singh decided to merge his princely state into India, Gilgit Scouts led by British commander William Alexander Brown revolted. He also occupied Baltistan, which was part of Ladakh. Skardu, Kargil, and Dras were also occupied by Gilgit Scouts. In the war, Indian forces recaptured Kargil and Dras in August 1948. But Pakistan's illegal occupation of Gilgit continued.
  • On 1 November 1947, the political party Revolutionary Council of Gilgit-Baltistan declared Gilgit-Baltistan an independent country. On 15 November he announced the merger with Pakistan. But the condition of this merger was that it would be purely for administrative control. Last year, Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan celebrated 1 November as the Independence Day of Gilgit-Baltistan.

Was Gilgit-Baltistan included in the constitution of Pakistan?

  • No. The civil constitution was implemented in Pakistan in 1974. It had four provinces – Punjab, Sindh, Balochistan, and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. PoK and Gilgit-Baltistan were not made provinces. Pakistan did not want to dilute the international case related to the claim regarding Kashmir, due to which it kept it separate.
  • PoK also got its own constitution in 1975. It was made a self-governing autonomous territory. But the Northern Area, which includes Gilgit-Baltistan, did not find a place in the Constitution. But that does not mean that Islamabad did not rule over it. Even though these provinces have been given autonomy, the reality is that in PoK and Gilgit-Baltistan, exactly what Islamabad wanted to happen.
  • The people of PoK got their rights and freedom under the constitution. But the Northern Areas with a Shia majority did not get political representation. They are considered Pakistanis, but they are limited to citizenship and passport only. Constitutional rights do not belong to the people of four provinces and PoK.

When did Pakistan change the administrative arrangement in this area?

Image Credit: India TV News
Image Credit: India TV News
  • After the year 2000. Given the changed situation after the terrorist attack in America and the importance of this area in China's One Road One Belt project, Pakistan needed constitutional intervention.
  • Pakistan replaced the Northern Areas Legislative Council (NALC) with a Legislative Assembly in 2009 through the Gilgit-Baltistan (Empowerment and Self-Governance) Order 2009. The Northern Areas were named Gilgit-Baltistan. NALC is an elected body, but its role was advisory to the Minister of Kashmir and Northern Areas Affairs. That is, it is from Islamabad itself.
  • There was definitely some improvement in the assembly. There are 24 directly elected members and 9 nominated. Since 2010, the ruling party in Islamabad has been winning these seats. Prime Minister Imran Khan's Pakistan-Tehreek-e-Insaf won 24 out of 33 seats in November 2020.

Do the Shia majority population of the Northern Areas have special rights?

  • No. In 1974, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto changed the rules of the time of Maharaja in the Northern Areas. Now outsiders can buy land there. As a result, the percentage of the Shia population gradually decreased there. The rules in PoK were gradually abolished. In both areas, control of migration is with Pakistan.
  • Imran Khan had announced provisional provincial status to the region on 1 November 2020. Even though this area does not come under the jurisdiction of the Constitution of Pakistan, the Supreme Court of Pakistan began to exercise its jurisdiction in this area in 1999.

What does the international community think about Gilgit-Baltistan?

As far as the UN is concerned, it has passed a resolution to maintain the status quo in the whole of Kashmir. Along with this, taking public opinion has advocated for the resolution of the dispute. But the UK Parliament passed a resolution in 2017 saying that Gilgit-Baltistan is an integral part of India and Pakistan has illegally occupied it since 1947.

What is the interest of China in this area?

The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) has changed the dynamics of the region. Pakistan gifted a part of Gilgit-Baltistan to China in 1963, a year after the India-China war. It covers an area of ​​about 5,000 to 8,000 sq km.

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