By Shabbir Mir in Express Tribune, May 21 GILGIT: Gilgit-Baltistan (G-B) Chief Minster (CM) Mehdi Shah on Monday accused former chief secretary Sajjad Hotiana of being a “Facebook hero”, claiming the latter tried to instigate lawmakers against him. “He tried to turn my colleagues against me and also tried to incite me against them by saying they were corrupt,” Shah said in the G-B Assembly, referring to Hotiana who was recently transferred on the former’s…
Posts published in May 2013
By Shabbir Mir in Express Tribune, May 21 GILGIT / LAHORE: Monday was a day of opposite reactions: While President Asif Ali Zardari congratulated Samina Baig and her brother Mirza Ali, the two young mountaineers who successfully scaled the world’s highest peak, lawmakers in the Gilgit-Baltistan Assembly session remained strangely mum over the achievement. In a statement released by the President’s Secretariat on Monday, President Zardari said Baig made the entire nation proud by becoming…
GILGIT, May 19: The Chief Justice of the Chief Court of Gilgit-Baltistan Justice Sahib Khan laid the foundation stone of the long-awaited judicial complex at Chilas, headquarters of Diamer district on Saturday. The establishment of judicial complex will facilitate both judicial officers and the public. Public works department officials stated the project will also include setting up residential colony for the judges. The project will cost over Rs58 million and will be completed within two…
China has come forward and offered to arbitrate between Pakistan and Indian on the long-standing issue of Kashmir provided it is acceptable to India. This was stated by Chinese Ambassador Li Jain in response to a question by a journalist whether Beijing could play any role in resolving the issue during the visit of its Prime Minister Li Keqiang to the subcontinent. There is little chance of Ambassador Li’s kind offer to be taken up…
By Shabbir Mir in The Express Tribune, May 19 GILGIT: The alliance between Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) at the center has discomforted the regional leadership of PML-N in Gilgit-Baltistan (G-B). The JUI-F has been the coalition partner of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) in the G-B government for the past three years, with JUI-F leader and health minister Haji Gulbar defending Chief Minister Mehdi Shah on every front. Similarly, Maulana Attaullah…
MUZAFFARABAD: The recent elections in Pakistan have once again rekindled the hope for empowerment among the people of Azad Kashmir and reignited the debate among the political parties for review of relations between Muzaffarabad and Islamabad. Opposition parties and constitutional experts in the disputed territory have reiterated their demand for more powers and representation in Pakistani parliament. The existing relationship between Muzaffarabad and Islamabad needs to be revisited and changed. This was the consensus view…
By Shabbir Mir in The Express Tribune, May 17 GILGIT: A change in the government at the centre has brought forth many aspirants for the slot of Gilgit-Baltistan (G-B) governor after regional chief of the victorious Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) hinted at sending the incumbent governor packing. Hafizur Rahman expressed his desire to replace the existing governor with one from PML-N a day after his party emerged as the largest force in the May 11…
MUZAFFARABAD: The Supreme Court (SC) of Azad Jammu and Kashmir on Tuesday declared illegal the appointment of 403 prayer leaders in government schools in Bagh District. The appointments of the clerics in 403 government primary schools across Bagh District were made on August 6, 2011 by District Education Officer (DEO) in violation of merit and rules. A single-judge bench headed by Chief Justice Muhammad Azam Khan directed the secretary, education, Mr Sadiq Dar, to suspend…
By Zafar Bhutta in The Express Tribune, May 14 ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan government has prepared a $12.5 billion funding programme for Diamer Bhasha Dam with resources coming from internal and external sources including the Asian Development Bank, the United States and Islamic Development Bank, seemingly dealing a blow to India’s attempts to block foreign financing for what it calls a controversial project. According to reports, the Indian lobby in Washington has been actively campaigning against…
By Shabbir Mir in The Express Tribune, May 14 GILGIT: The president of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s (PML-N) Gilgit-Baltistan (G-B) chapter Hafizur Rehman seems to have become the de facto chief minister (CM) following his party’s landslide victory in the general polls. Currently, Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) is the ruling party in G-B’s coalition government, with Mehdi Shah as the CM and Pir Karam Ali Shah as governor. A change at the centre is bound to…
GILGIT, May 10: More than 250 ad hoc employees of food department of Gilgit-Baltistan are awaiting regularisation of services. “We submitted collective applications for regularisation of our services like other departments but the concerned authorities did not pay heed to our genuine demands,” said Waqas Ahmed, an ad hoc employee. But, instead of regularising the service, the authorities fired some 52 employees without payment of their salaries of eight months, he regretted. Another employee Shamsullah…