Gilgit Baltistan "EMPOWER IAS"

In news:

• Pakistan has finalized draft legislation to incorporate Gilgit-Baltistan, the region known before 2009 as Northern Areas, as a province of the country.

 

Gilgit-Baltistan: History of the region

• Gilgit was part of the princely state of Jammu & Kashmir but was ruled directly by the British, who had taken it on lease from Hari Singh, the Hindu ruler of the Muslim-majority state.
• When Hari Singh acceded to India on October 26, 1947, the Gilgit Scouts rose in rebellion, led by their British commander Major William Alexander Brown.
• The Gilgit Scouts also moved to take over Baltistan, which was then part of Ladakh, and captured Skardu, Kargil and Dras.
• In battles thereafter, Indian forces retook Kargil and Dras in August 1948.

 

 

Current Status of Gilgit-Baltistan:

• It is an autonomous region now and with this elevation, it will become the 5th province of the country.
• Currently, Pakistan has four provinces namely Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Punjab, and Sindh.
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Chronology:

• 1999: Pakistan’s Supreme Court ruled that the people of Gilgit-Baltistan are Pakistani citizens and directed the federal government to start appropriate administrative and legislative measures.
• 2009: The Gilgit-Baltistan Empowerment and Self-Governance Order was introduced, whereby the Northern Areas were renamed as Gilgit-Baltistan and the region was given province-like status but without representation in Parliament.
• 2015: A committee constituted by the federal government proposed giving Gilgit-Baltistan the status of a province.
• 2018: A new order was introduced which transferred all powers of the Gilgit-Baltistan council to its assembly.
• This elevation will lead to adequate representation from the province on all constitutional bodies, including the National Assembly and the Senate.
• The Government will also start working on the Moqpondass Special Economic Zone (SEZ) under the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).
• SEZs work as an engine for economic growth supported by quality infrastructure complemented by an attractive fiscal package, both at the Centre and the State level, with the minimum possible regulations.

 

Other Developments by China in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir under CPEC:

• Diamer-Bhasha Dam.
• Kohala hydropower Project.
• Azad Pattan Hydel Power Project.

 

India's Stand:

• India has held that the Government of Pakistan or its judiciary has no locus standi on territories illegally and forcibly occupied by it.
• India completely rejects such actions and continued attempts to bring material changes in Pakistan occupied areas of the Indian territory of Jammu and Kashmir.
• While protesting Islamabad’s efforts to bring material change in Pakistan occupied territories, India held that Pakistan should immediately vacate all areas under its illegal occupation.

 

 

Accession with Pakistan

• In November, 1947, a political outfit called the Revolutionary Council of Gilgit-Baltistan had proclaimed the independent state of Gilgit-Baltistan.
• It declared GB was acceding to Pakistan only to the extent of full administrative control, choosing to govern it directly under the Frontier Crimes Regulation.
• It was a law devised by the British to keep control of the restive tribal areas of the northwest.
• Following the India-Pakistan ceasefire of January 1, 1949, Pakistan entered into an agreement with the “provisional government” of “Azad Jammu & Kashmir”.
• Much of its parts had been occupied by Pakistani troops and irregulars and were later taken over by Pak defence and foreign affairs.
• Under this agreement, the AJK government also ceded administration of Gilgit-Baltistan to Pakistan.

 

Not being incorporated as a province

• In 1974, Pakistan adopted its first full-fledged civilian Constitution, which lists four provinces —Punjab, Sindh, Balochistan and Khyber Pakthunkhwa.
• Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir (PoK) and Gilgit-Baltistan were not incorporated as provinces.
• One reason ascribed to this is that Pakistan did not want to undermine its international case that the resolution of the Kashmir issue had to be in accordance with UN resolutions that called for a plebiscite.
• In 1975, PoK got its own Constitution, making it an ostensibly self-governed autonomous territory.
• This Constitution had no jurisdiction over the Northern Areas, which continued to be administered directly by Islamabad (the Frontier Crimes Regulation was discontinued in 1997)
• In reality, PoK too remained under the control of Pakistani federal administration and the security establishment, through the Kashmir Council.

 

Reasons behind

• The main difference was that while the people of PoK had rights and freedoms guaranteed by their own Constitution, which mirrors the Pakistan Constitution.
• However the people of the minority Shia-dominated Northern Areas did not have any political representation.
• Although they were considered Pakistani, including for citizenship and passports, they were outside the ambit of constitutional protections available to those in the four provinces and PoK.

 

Why GB is in focus now?

• Pakistan began considering changes to its administrative arrangements with increasing Chinese involvement in strategic development ventures.
• GB was vital to those projects, given that it provides only land access between the two countries.
• Since 2009, it has had a namesake legislative assembly.

 

Suppression of a movement

• There is anger against Pakistan for unleashing sectarian militant groups that target Shias, but the predominant sentiment is that all this will improve once they are part of the Pakistani federation.
• There is a small movement for independence, but it has very little traction. Some factions argue for its accession with India.
• While some reports have suggested that Pakistan’s decision is under pressure from China, wary that Gilgit-Baltistan’s ambiguous status might undermine the legality of its projects there.

 

Significance for India

• Gilgit-Baltistan is an integral part of India by virtue of the legal, complete and irrevocable accession of Jammu & Kashmir to the Union of India in 1947.
• The area’s strategic importance for India has increased in light of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor agreement.
• India is also concerned of a two-front war (with China as well as Pakistan) after the standoff in Eastern Ladakh last year.

 

Why the separate status?

• Pakistan’s separate arrangement with G-B goes back to the circumstances under which it came to administer it. On November 1 1947, after J&K ruler Hari Singh had signed the Instrument of Accession with India.
• Gilgit had been leased to the British by Hari Singh in 1935. The British returned it in August 1947.
• Pakistan did not accept G-B’s accession although it took administrative control of the territory.
• India went to the UN and a series of resolutions were passed in the Security Council on the situation in Kashmir.
• Pakistan believed that neither G-B nor PoK should be annexed to Pakistan, as this could undermine the international case for a plebiscite in Kashmir.
• It also reckons that in the event a plebiscite ever takes place in Kashmir, votes in G-B will be important too. This is why it is only being called “provisional” provincial status.