GILGIT BALTISTAN NEW MOVE ADDS TO CONFUSION OVER GB'S
STATUS
Published September 26, 2015 | By Mir
GIGLIT: Prime
Minister Nawaz Sharif the other day visited Attabad and inaugurated the
realigned 24 kilometers portion of the Karakorum Highway (KKH), including three
tunnels of seven kms and three bridges. The artificial lake at Attabad was
formed during the 2010 flooding when a portion of the overlooking mountain
slipped into a village killing 22 people and blocking the river.
About 30,000 people living upstream
the Hunza river remained stranded and faced hardship incommunicating to and
from other parts of the region. The lake submerged the portion of the KKH.
Another aspect of the matter is that the promises to rehabilitate the displaced
people from the artificial lake has not been fulfilled through the government of
Pakistan in coordination with China rebuilt an alternative road to restore
trade on the KKH at a cost of about 27 billion rupees and Nawaz Sharif termed
the project a gift to the people of Gilgit-Baltistan.
During the visit of
the prime minister to Gilgit-Baltistan, he also met the members of the
legislative assembly. Later after his departure, Chief Minister
Gilgit-Baltistan Hafeez Hafizur Rehman in a briefing about the demands put
forward to Mr Nawaz Sharif told local media persons that the prime minister
announced Rs6 billion for the construction of the Hunzal powerhouse, Rs2
billion for Kargah and Naltar roads and Rs2 billion for the establishment of a
special force for the security of passengers on the KKH. He also said that
Rs450 million would also be provided to the Gilgit-Baltistan government for the
construction of a tourist resort near Attabad. Besides, he added, the
reconstruction of the Gilgit-Skardu road would be started in three months and
till that time the NHA had been directed to carry out a repair and patchwork on
the busy road to facilitate the commuters.
The prime minister
also announced to provide Rs3.5 billion for the construction of a cardiac
institute in the Gilgit city, besides hinting at the establishment of another
university in Gilgit-Baltistan. Political observers are, however, of the view
that for the last 67 years the federal government has been treating
Gilgit-Baltistan as a stepmother. Let alone political or constitutional powers,
Islamabad has always been hesitant in releasing the meager budget allocated to
the region every year. The usual mindset of the PML-N has always been clear: it
is never ready to give political or financial powers but as compared to other
parties is always ready to allocate funds for the infrastructure development
especially for the construction of roads and bridges and complete such projects
on time.
This time around
the ruling party has also promised to launch a number of projects to generate
electricity in Gilgit-Baltistan and the local people should take advantage of
this to resolve the perpetual power crisis in the region. The projects
announced in the power and road infrastructure sector would be highly
beneficial for Gilgit-Baltistan but the need of the hour is that chief minister
Hafeez should himself supervise the projects and ensure their quality and
timely completion. Besides, the contracts of the projects should not be given
to those contractors who in the past embezzled the public funds and left the
projects midway and disappeared.
The people of
Gilgit-Baltistan welcome the initiatives to launch the project but it is also
ironic that the prime minister did not mince a word for the basic rights of two
million people which have been denied to them for over six decades. During one
of his earlier visits to Gilgit-Baltistan, he had announced that a committee
would be constituted under the chairmanship of Sartaj Aziz to present to the
government proposals to give constitutionals rights to the people of Gilgit-Baltistan.
But it is strange that the committee was abolished even before its
constitution. This shows that the people of Gilgit-Baltistan would not be
getting their denied constitutional and political rights during the current
tenure of the PML-N.
But Islamabad
should understand the fact very well that due to lack of the political and
constitutional powers, the sense of deprivation is increasing among the people
of the region. If the prime minister is sincere in his claim that he loves the
people of Gilgit-Baltistan, he should ensure that they got their due rights
which have been denied to them so far. The people of the region have fed up
with false promises and want a real turnaround in their life that should be
emancipation from the yoke of slavery.__Bang-e-Sahar
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