Disputed Pak N. Areas get province-like status

Aug. 29: Pakistan on Saturday granted "province-like" status to the disputed Northern Areas and renamed them Gilgit-Baltistan.

"The Northern Areas will be from now on called Gilgit-Baltistan. They will have autonomy and a province-like status," Pakistan Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani told reporters after a meeting of the Federal Cabinet that approved the decision.

"A 15-member administrative council will see to the matters of Gilgit-Baltistan and the council will choose the chief minister. The (Pakistan) minister for Kashmir Affairs (Qamruz Zamn Kaira) will be the governor," he said.

The Northern Areas, now renamed Gilgit-Baltistan, can have up to six ministers. Mr Gilani said a committee has been constituted for the Northern Areas and added that all the stakeholders have been taken into confidence on the "Gilgit-Baltistan Empowerment Act".

Previously, too, he had said it was the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) that worked for the Northern Areas. "The Cabinet of Gilgit-Baltistan will approve their budget. However, the federation will appoint the governor," Mr Gilani said, adding that an auditor-general and election commissioner would also be appointed for Gilgit-Baltistan.

The government’s decision comes after a decades-old struggle of the people of Gilgit-Baltistan, who wanted the Northern Areas given a specific name and rights. Some of them have even been calling for freedom from Pakistani rule.

"The Northern Areas will have self-rule. They will have province-like autonomy but will not constitutionally be a province," a senior Pakistani official said. He said Gilgit-Baltistan would have its own Assembly (council) with 39 members. "The Northern Areas would be granted self-rule on the pattern of Azad Jammu and Kashmir as proposed in the summary finalised in consultation with the authorities of these areas and in accordance with its resolutions," the official said.

Asked about opposition from any quarter, he said, "Every sitting minister has been consulted and their inputs are part of the summary."

Under the summary, Gilgit-Baltistan would have its own election commission, commissioner and courts, like the PoK. "Had the Northern Areas been given the status of a constitutional province, there might have been a reaction from outside the border," he added.

Asked about the procedure, he said the President of Pakistan will implement the decision in the form of a presidential order. "The Northern Areas fall under the direct jurisdiction of the President and, therefore, he (President Asif Ali Zardari) will issue an order after approval of the same by the Federal Cabinet," the official said.

The Constitution, he said, provides that only a sitting President can issue an order in the case of the Northern Areas, the Federally Administered Tribal Areas and other areas falling under the direct jurisdiction of the federation.