Posts published in May 2012

MIRPUR:  The Mirpur Currency Changers Association has appealed to the government to ensure security to legally operating currency exchanges in the city and to their customers. A representative of the association said that the increasing number of incidents of people being waylaid after collecting money from currency exchanges is a cause of concern. He appealed to the government to implement a foolproof security system to ensure safety to the life and property of the people…

By Shabbir Mir in The Express Tribune, May 22 GILGIT:  Once a tourist hotspot, the junction point of the three mightiest mountain ranges of the world seem to be loosing its appeal. Situated nearly 45 kilometres from Gilgit, the junction — where the Himalaya, Hindu Kush and Karakoram ranges converge — served as a preferred stopover for tourists, especially foreigners, who would come to take photographs of “awe-inspiring view of the three ranges”. However, owing…

By Shabbir Mir  in The Express Tribune, May 13 GILGIT: The Gilgit-Baltistan government is likely to reinstate the tow prayer leaders arrested earlier for making hate speeches in the region’s capital city. “The cabinet will meet in Gilgit on Monday to take up the decision in this regard and it is likely that the two central Sunni and Shia mosques that each of the clerics represent will be unsealed,” said a source privy to the…

The sectarian divide was strengthened by General Zia’s Islamisation and anti-Shia policies, the fruits of which we are seeing in Gilgit, Punjab and Balochistan In the legends and folklore of Gilgit-Baltistan, King Badat was a cannibal king, who wreaked havoc on his citizens. The notorious king demanded a child a day from his subjects, or a person from each household, as a price for their safety, until the day he was overthrown by a prince…

MANSEHRA: Hundreds of people on Wednesday blocked the Karakoram Highway (KKH) to protest prolonged power outages in the city and its suburbs. The protesters holding banners and placards marched on various roads and gathered at the KKH, blocking it for vehicular traffic for sometime. The protesters were raising slogans against the government and Wapda and said if loadshedding was not ended they would be left with no option, but to resort to more serious measures…

GILGIT: The government’s decision to constitute a Masjid Board to bar hate speeches has been met by criticism from opposition leaders, who have termed it”wastage of time and resources.” “I say this on the basis of my years-long experience in the region,” said Janbaz Khan of Pakistan Muslim League – Nawaz while talking to The Express Tribune on Wednesday. “Do you think a board will have the power to arrest those involved in spearheading sectarian…

By Shabbir Mir in The Express Tribune May 9 GILGIT: The Gilgit-Baltistan (G-B) government has linked the opening of the mosques sealed in the aftermath of sectarian violence with the acceptance of the code of conduct that bars prayer leaders from making hate speeches. The code of conduct, prepared by a parliamentary peace committee, binds prayer leaders of both central mosques not to malign each other’s beliefs or to use foul language against the rival…

Rawalpindi: A legislator and nationalist leader has proposed that Gilgit-Baltistan (G-B) should be made a secular and independent state. Chief of his own faction of Balawaristan National Front (BNF), Nawaz Khan Naji, stated this while addressing a gathering of young party members of BNF in Rawalpindi on Sunday, said a press release issued by the organisers. Naji said that injustice, nepotism, corruption and interference of clerics in the administrative affairs of G-B are responsible for…

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan is seeking a push for early mobilisation of Chinese contractors to start construction of 1,100MW Kohala Hydropower Project (KHP) and increased financial support for under-construction 969MW Neelum Jhelum Hydropower Project (NJHP). Sources said the Chinese contractors CWE – a subsidiary of Three Gorges Dam – had been showing less interest in going ahead with the $2.2 billion Kohala project and dilly-dallying on mobilising its machinery and workforce to start it even though the…

LAHORE, April 5: The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) has expressed serious alarm at the continuing loss of life in sectarian strife in GilgitBaltistan and demanded that the government, political parties and civil society organisations join hands to bring peace to the area at the earliest. In a statement issued on Thursday, the commission said: `HRCP has watched with growing concern the reprehensible and lengthening shadow of sectarian bloodshed in Gilgit-Baltistan and condemns it…