Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) has strongly recommended to the federal government to resolve the issue of the constitutional status of Gilgit-Baltistan as soon as possible. The recommendations were made by a HRCP fact-finding mission to Gilgit-Baltistan in its latest report thatBusiness Recorder got, here on Friday.
The fact-finding mission comprised of HRCP's co-chairperson Kamran Arif, former chairperson Asma Jahangir and HRCP's co-ordinator for Northern Areas Khushal Khan. In Gilgit, HRCP's task force, led by its co-ordinator Israruddin, helped in arranging and facilitating meetings with groups and individuals from various walks of life, which proved essential in understanding the key issues of the region.
The report proposed some models such as article 370 of the Indian Constitution regarding the special status to Indian-held Kashmir or the status being enjoyed by Azad Jammu and Kashmir. The HRCP fact-finding mission, in its third proposal recommended provisional provincial status for Gilgit Baltistan leading to the permanent provincial status. It said that these were some of the proposed solutions that needed to be pondered upon. It said that integration of Gilgit-Baltistan region into Pakistan is essential for addressing most of the administrative and political issues being faced by people of that region.
During the tenure of PPP government, then President Zardari issued a presidential order "Gilgit-Baltistan Empowerment and Self-Governance Order, 2009," which granted GB a self-governing status without formal constitutional status of an administrative province of Pakistan like other four provinces.
The report called for all fundamental rights guaranteed in the Constitution of Pakistan to Gilgit-Baltistan as well. It urged that the misuse of the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA) and Fourth Schedule against rights campaigners and political activists in Gilgit-Baltistan needs to be curbed. It stressed that the 'unchecked' authority of the law enforcement agencies (LEAs) and intelligence agencies needed to be monitored and controlled.
It emphasised on the need to end the dominance of bureaucracy in all the administrative and political affairs of GB and the political representatives of the people of the region needed to be empowered so that they could deal with those issues that might not otherwise fall under the direct purview of the bureaucracy.
The people of Gilgit-Baltistan must be taken into confidence regarding the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) projects. "Their concerns and their demands for due share in the mega project should be addressed as soon as possible. Besides, they should also be given appropriate representation in the forums responsible for implementing and monitoring the projects under CPEC," HRCP report urged.
It stressed that affected people and owners should be compensated for their lands being acquired by the government for any CPEC-related projects and 'forcible' eviction of local communities by state authorities from these lands should stop. It urged that the people affected and displaced by the Attabad Lake disaster need to be rehabilitated at the earliest. It is regrettable that after so many years of the disaster, the government has failed to compensate the internally displaced persons of Attabad. The government needs to cater to the needs of these IDPs in every possible way and ensure that the mechanism be devised to deal with the impacts of any natural calamities in future.
"The women of the mountainous region need to be given greater representation not only in the Gilgit-Baltistan Legislative Assembly (GBLA) but also in other decision-making bodies of the region. Measures to end sexual harassment of women at workplace need to be outlined and implemented," it urged stressing that the government needed to provide more facilities for people with disabilities in Gilgit-Baltistan.
"As the GB government has allocated the Special Education Complex to a medical college, it needs to provide a satisfactory alternative to the special children who have no other facility," it proposed. The fact-finding mission report further recommended that at the same time, National Accountability Bureau (NAB) needed to relocate its office from the hostel of the Special Education Complex, as the special children who were using the residential premises do not have any alternative accommodation.