As the election date for the legislative assembly of Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) come closer (November 15), Pakistani Prime minister Imran Khan paid a visit to the occupied territory on November 1 and made an announcement that could be best described as a bribe to garner support for his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) that has been struggling to find suitable candidates since most of those who were refused party tickets are now contesting against it as independents.
Imran matched his visit with the day when on November 1, 1947 Major William Alexander Brown staged a coup against the legitimate ruler of Jammu and Kashmir Maharaja Hari Singh, and arrested his appointed governor Ghansara Singh. The imperial governor agreed to surrender at gunpoint only after he was threatened with the massacre of local Hindu and Sikh communities.
Addressing a public gathering comprising mostly of government servants and military soldiers dressed as locals, Imran Khan announced that GB is being granted provisional provincial status. However, after facing enormous backlash and opposition from Pakistan occupied Jammu and Kashmir (PoJK) and GB, accusing the Pakistani PM to meddle in the November 15 elections, the caretaker Chief minister issued a statement that Imran Khan had made no such statement and that he was visiting GB as a personal guest of the Chief minister. This statement was published on November 4 in local newspapers. However, on November 5, the headline ran: Imran Khan will make GB a provisional province come what may. Well, the above contradictory statements issued on behalf of the caretaker CM of GB clearly depict the directionless government of Imran Khan.
Not only that the PM has been issuing statements that are in open breech of the rules of the Election Commission, the Federal Minister for Kashmir Affairs and Gilgit-Baltistan Ali Amin Gandapur has also delivered a speech in Astore in GB on November 5 declaring (read offering a bribe) that if the people of GB help PTI candidates win by a 3000 vote lead then Pakistan will invest Rs 4 billion in development projects in GB. How low can this ‘elected’ sitting government stoop to?
As Pakistan People’s Party Chairman Bilawal Bhutto makes promises of the similar nature during his GB election campaign, Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz’s (PML-N) vice president Maryam Nawaz arrives (on November 6) belatedly to remind the people of GB what benefits the outgoing PML (N) government in GB had delivered. Virtually none! All she spoke about was ‘vote ko izat do’, ‘give respect to the vote’.
The elections in GB are illegal in its true sense. GB is an Indian territory recognized by the United Nations resolutions, which is under the occupation of Pakistan since November 1, 1947. Any investment, whether it be the CPEC, or otherwise stands no legal grounds and will become null and void as soon as the territory is returned back to the Indian Union Territory of Ladakh.
That the territory of GB remains under Pakistan occupation is only a matter of time was reflected in the statement issued by the Indian Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Anurag Srivastava which said: “The Government of India firmly rejects the attempt by Pakistan to bring material changes to a part of Indian territory, under its illegal and forcible occupation.”
Pakistan is facing a crisis of governance. This crisis is a direct result of the interference in the economic and political sectors by the military establishment that is under the direct control of its military Generals. The tussle between the parliament and the military establishment over CPEC and other developmental projects has been the cause of perpetual halt in the economic growth. Today, Pakistan’s GDP is decisively in the negative and with no compromise in sight between the warring political opposition called Pakistan Democratic Movement and the Imran Khan led PTI government, economic recovery will remain a far-fetched dream.
With increase in militancy in Balochistan and the recent events in Waziristan along with unrest in Sindh and omnipresent dissatisfaction in Pakistan occupied Jammu Kashmir, Pakistan seems a country that is fast disintegrating with every economic and political decision it makes. Under the present circumstances, it becomes vital for the Indian Government to issue a petition to the world community of nations that Pakistan must vacate all Indian territories.
A good signal to the international community and to the people living under the occupation of Pakistan would be to nominate PoJK and GB political representatives to the Lok Sabha, Rajya Sabha as well as to public representative bodies in Jammu Kashmir and Ladakh.
As Imran Khan makes his last-ditch efforts to secure a victory in GB, India must take the case of PoJK and GB to the doorstep of every house hold in PoJK and GB by starting a dialogue with the people of both the regions living in exile for decades and facilitate them in the above-mentioned bodies.