Gilgit-Baltistan govt's open challenge to Shahbaz govt in Pakistan

On economic front, GB has been severely hit. The region is known as the ‘water reservoir of Pakistan’ with more than 7,000 glaciers there. Despite being blessed with natural resources, it suffers from acute power shortag

All is not well in Gilgit-Baltistan (GB). The region is teetering on the edge of a complete social, political, and economic breakdown.

For the first time, the elected government of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) in GB, headed by Khalid Khurshid, took the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) coalition government by its horns. On March 16, Chief Minister Khurshid warned, "I dare the morons to declare an emergency in GB if they can... you cannot control the rest of the provinces and if you think you can control the people of GB, just go for it and we'll see you."

He also accused the federal government of creating chaos in GB through unjustified cuts in the development funds for the region. The delay of the GB Assembly session for the last several months by the federal government is aimed at passing a no-confidence against the CM. But, the Chief Minister has thrown an open challenge - if the session is convened, it would be flooded with strong resolutions against the PDM regime, making it impossible for it to control the people of the region.

The strength of GB people was exhibited when its police came to protect former PM Imran Khan from Punjab Police to arrest him from his Zaman Park residence in Lahore. There was a big threat of clashes between Gilgit-Baltistan and Punjab Police which could have caused major casualties. The GB Police officers vowed that they will not allow anyone to arrest Imran Khan. However, the federal government on March 15 removed GB Inspector-General (IG) of police Muhammad Wazir Saeed from the post "for not withdrawing the force at Zaman Park."

Meanwhile, Imran Khan's arrest issue and a controversial statement of the CM against PDM have given an opportunity to the Opposition to be up in arms in the region. GB Assembly Opposition Leader Amjad Khan of PPP demanded a treason case against CM Khurshid for inducing the GB Police personnel to rebel against the Federation.

He added that if any police personnel got hurt in Lahore, the CM should be held responsible and accounted for. He urged the judiciary to take cognisance of the matter and ask the CM under what law he sent GB Police personnel to Zaman Park. Amjad's advocate asked the police to remain employees of the State, and not of some person.

Former GB CM and senior PMLN leader Hafiz Hafizur Rahman has described Imran Khan as "more dangerous than Tehreek-e-Taliban (TTP)." He demanded that PTI should be termed as a banned outfit and CM Khurshid should be removed for using GB Police to protect Imran Khan while compelling them to fight with Punjab Police. Rahman also demanded that there should be an inquiry against the GB Chief Secretary as well for using resources of Gilgit-Baltistan in Lahore.

On the economic front, GB has been severely affected, though the region is blessed with natural resources. The region is known as the 'water reservoir of Pakistan' with more than 7,000 glaciers. Despite these resources, the region suffers from a lack of electricity access. Electricity demand continues to grow with population growth, but the supply of electricity is falling behind. Power plants are not functioning at their rated capacity and at times proving to be highly inefficient. There is a huge gap between the generation and installed capacities of the hydropower stations there.

Hydroelectricity is available only for 5-6 months for lighting purposes, and water in the region is generally frozen for six months. These factors are compounded by climate change and the harsh geographical location, contributing to the unavailability of electricity, poverty and glacial lake outburst floods.

Majlis-e-Wahdat-ul-Muslimeen's GB chief Ali Rizvi expressed that from rivers to mountains to lands, all belong to and property of the people of Gilgit-Baltistan and the government or any other government department has no claim or share in it. The region is getting disfigured, he added.

(R C Ganjoo is a senior journalist and columnist having more than 30 years experience of covering issues concerning national security, particularly Kashmir. He has worked with several prominent media groups and his articles have been published in many national and international publications.)

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