Bill To Grant New Status To Gilgit-Baltistan

In News

Pakistan authorities have finalised Bill to grant new status to Gilgit-Baltistan recently.

About

• The Ministry of Law and Justice of Pakistan has finalised the proposed legislation to award provisional provincial status to strategically located Gilgit-Baltistan (GB).
• India has clearly conveyed to Pakistan that the entire Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh, including the areas of Gilgit and Baltistan, are an integral part of the country by virtue of its fully legal and irrevocable accession.

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Recent Developments in Pakistan

• Under the proposed law, the Supreme Appellate Court (SAC) of GB may be abolished and the region’s Election Commis­sion is likely to be merged with the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).
• The draft of the 26th Constitutional Amendment Bill had been prepared and submitted to the Prime Minister.
• The proposed law suggests that due to sensitivity attached to GB, it could be given provisional provincial status by amending Article 1 of the Constitution that related to the provinces and territories.
• Also, a set of amendments would be introduced to give GB representation in the parliament, besides the establishment of the provincial assembly in the territory.

Gilgit Baltistan

• Gilgit-Baltistan is the northernmost territory administered by Pakistan, providing the country’s only territorial frontier, and thus a land route, with China, where it meets the Xinjiang Autonomous Region. 
• The China Pakistan Economic Corridor has made the region vital for both countries. This ambitious project is seen to have been going slow for a combination of reasons. But given the strategic interests of both countries, CPEC will continue.
• To G-B’s west is Afghanistan, to its south is Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, and to the east J&K. 
• The plan to grant G-B provincial status gathered speed over the last year. While some commentary links it to CPEC and Chinese interest, others in Pakistan say the push might have well come from India’s reassertion of its claims of reorganisation of Jammu & Kashmir.

Way Forward

• India, Pakistan and China should begin a trilateral dialogue for dispute-resolution, cooperation and common development. The problems in Jammu and Kashmir have become trilateral in nature, especially after the India-China standoff at the LAC in eastern Ladakh. Therefore, the solutions to these problems, acceptable to all concerned, can only come out of a trilateral dialogue.
• The most important component of any trilateral dialogue must be a firm and solemn commitment by the three countries that none of them shall pose a security threat to the other.
• India and Pakistan should agree on the following:
  • Converting the LoC into a “soft border” (thus making it “irrelevant”);
  • De-militarising both sides of Kashmir, ending gross violations of human rights, and ensuring the honourable return and rehabilitation of displaced people, regardless of their religion, such as the Kashmiri Pandits;
  • Enabling free trade and free movement of people;
  • Guaranteeing maximum self-governance, and even joint governance on relevant subjects;
  • An India-Pakistan joint mechanism to make this fair and innovative solution work.
  • These were the underpinnings of the Musharraf-Manmohan Singh formula, on which a large degree of consensus had been reached. This plan, under a different name and with mutually acceptable modifications, has the best chance of ending the Kashmir dispute.

Sources: TH