Even before a single ballot was cast in today’s G-B Legislative Assembly election, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s, PML-N is all set to host victory celebrations and political turncoats have begun knocking
at the PML-N doors.
Gilgit-Baltistan will vote in its second legislative assembly election today June 8 under the watchful eyes of the Pakistan Army.
Troops are deployed across all districts in Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) three days ahead of the polls at the request of the Election Commission and local civil administration, according to Army spokesman.
More than six hundred thousand voters will decide the fate of 289 candidates in the one –day ballot for 24-elected seats in the 33-member Assembly. The Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is seen as the front runner amidst charges that the party has indulged in pre-poll rigging.
Besides the PML-N, which is contesting for all the seats, others in the fray include the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaaf (PTI), Jamaat-e-Islami, JuI (Fazlur Rahman), Majlis Wahadat-e-Muslims, Tehrik-e-Islami-Pakistan and Muttahida Quami Movement (MQM).
While the Shia Ulema council entered the scene under the banner of Tehrik-e-Islam, the Quaid Muslim League has announced boycott of the election since its three winners in the last election had switched over to the ruling party.
Already anticipating PML-N victory, a dozen senior leaders of PPP and other parties have switched over their loyalties. Islamudin, Haji Qurban, Agha Foker, Yahya Shah (all PPP), Abdul Latif and Mahmoodal Hasan (both PTI), Aurangzeb Khan (Awami party) and Raja Azam (MQM) are among the notable turncoats.
G-B Scout and local police are also out in full strength at all the 1022 polling stations. At least 119 polling stations have been declared the most sensitive and another 153 polling booths sensitive.
Contest is keen and multicornered in two constituencies of Gilgit district. While 38 are in the fray for Gilgit –I, twenty four are trying their luck in Gilgit-II. As many as 39 candidates are contesting the Hunza-Nagar district which is close by the Karakorum highway.
One of the colourful personalities in the fray is Baba Jan, who is presently in jail on life sentence for instigating a mob to resort to violence in Hunza Valley in 2011. A vice president of Left –oriented Awami Workers Party (AWP), he is locked in a multi-cornered contest in GBLA 6, a constituency in Gilgit. AWP workers from Lahore and other parts of Pakistan are canvassing for him, saying “there is a sympathy wave for Jan”.
In the run up to the election, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf chief Imran Khan, Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly, Khursheed Shah, former minister for Information Qamar Zaman Kaira and several leaders of mainstream political and religious parties descended on the region giving a new lease of life to the nascent political process.
Amid the flurry of last-minute pledges, “there is a looming fear that promises made before the elections will once again remain unfulfilled”, says local journalist Shabbir Mir .
During the first G-B election held in 2009, the then Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani pledged to develop Gilgit and Skardu airports for landing of Boeing aircraft but this promise remains unfulfilled till date, and so do the promise of more jobs, Mir reported in his dispatch from Gilgit to The Express Tribune on June 7.
Gilgit -Baltistan, which was earlier known as Northern Areas, was part of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir until Pakistan occupied this region in 1947.The areas remains one the most neglected part of Pakistan with the people denied their fundamental rights. They are not allowed to take part in Pakistan’s parliamentary elections either.
Diplomatic and political observers say the new ballot will not materially alter the ground situation ‘since the GBLA has limited authority and the real power rests in Rawalpindi and Islamabad”.
An element of uncertainty was introduced on the poll eve with a writ petition in the Islamabad High Court against the G-B election.
“The notification for holding GB Legislative Assembly (GBLA) election was unlawful”, claimed the writ filed by All Pakistan Muslim League (APML) of former military dictator, Pervez Musharraf.
“The government (of Pakistan) has no constitutional and legal authority to issue any such executive orders, adopt and enforce the ordinary and special laws in Gilgit-Baltistan (GB), appoint chief minister, chief election commissioner to hold elections and thus rule the people of the area in the colonial way”, the APML chief coordinator Ahmed Raza Khan Kasuri told the court in his petition. He charged that the Ministry of Kashmir Affairs is “ruling the two million people of Gilgit-Baltistan in a colonial way by violating their fundamental rights”.
The High Court did not issue any stay but served notices to the Federal Government and G-B governor, Chaudhry Birjees Tahir who is also the Federal Minister for Kashmir Affairs.
The opposition Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Party (PTI) has already challenged Birjees appointment as Governor terming it as a “bid to allow premature rigging”." In a petition filed before the Supreme Court, the PTI also raised question marks over the appointment of Chief Election Commissioner for Gilgit Baltistan.
The Constitutions of 1956, 1962 and 1973 of Pakistan do not recognize Gilgit Baltistan as part of Pakistan. Under the Provisional Constitutional Act, 1974, the PoK High Court has the right to hear all petitions concerning PoK and Northern Areas but the Supreme Court ruled in September 1994 that the Northern Areas are part of the state of Jammu and Kashmir but not of PoK.
In another verdict in May 1999, the Supreme Court directed Pakistan government to ensure that basic human rights and other political and administrative institutions are provided to the Northern Areas with the caveat that the action should not adversely affect Pakistan’s stand concerning the Kashmir issue. The order remains to be implemented.
India on the other hand has reserved 25 seats for PoK and Gilgit Baltistan Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly on the basis of 1951 census.
