The writer is a freelance columnist. Writing in this column a few weeks back, this scribe tried to expose fabrications about the feasibility of Kalabagh Dam and the attempts made by blackmailers to cover up these lies. By quoting from the views and technical reports of national and international experts on dam construction, we had shown that the opinion expressed by opponents of the dam was based on their political outlook and not on the…
Posts published in May 2013
By Shabbir Mir in The Express Tribune, May 10 GILGIT: Anticipating a Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) victory on Election Day, at least a dozen regional politicians from various parties have recently defected to the party in Gilgit-Baltistan (G-B). The newest PML-N members were recruited on Thursday when Haji Qurban, the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Nagar Valley president, and Jan Alam, a politician from Hunza, announced they would be joining the party’s ranks along with their…
By Shabbir Mir in The Express Tribune, May 9 GILGIT: Leaders of mainstream political parties in Gilgit-Baltistan (G-B) shunned the reservations of religious parties against the G-B Empowerment and Self-Governance Order 2009, claiming the fault lies with the rulers and not the system itself. “There is nothing written against any sect in the legislation, so we will not support any struggle on sectarian lines,” said Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s (PML-N) regional head Hafizur Rahman on Wednesday.…
GILGIT, May 8: A shutter down strike was observed on Tuesday in Gilgit and some other towns on the call of Ahle Sunnat Wal Jammat (ASWJ) to demand repeal of the Empowerment and Self Governance Order 2009. The ASWJ claims that the order was passed to facilitate certain segments of the society. On the occasion, the government had suspended cell phone service and all government and private schools and offices remained closed. Hospitals were also…
GILGIT, May 6: The 5,500MW Bunji Dam has been renamed as Rondu Bunji Dam, which had been the longstanding demand of the people. The decision was taken at a meeting attended by Wapda chairman and the Gilgit-Baltistan chief secretary in Lahore, officials said. The officials said acquisition of land for construction of Diamer-Bhasha Dam also came under discussion at the meeting. The issue of payment to the owners of the land acquired for the dam…
GILGIT, May 3: The Chief Court of Gilgit-Baltistan on Friday reinstated services of 183 teachers who were fired over a month ago by the education department. Court sources said the education department had fired 183 teachers on March 14, declaring their appointment illegal. The terminated teachers had filed a writ petition in the Chief Court seeking relief. On March 23, the Chief Secretary Sajjad Salim Hottiana also withdrew the orders of secretary education and said…
ISLAMABAD: The previous PPP government had appointed Ms Shumaila Mehmood on the most crucial post of member of the legal team for arbitration on Kishenganga hydropower project without any selection criteria. The same government also obliged her further by also hiring her legal services for arbitration of the Baglihar Hydropower Project against which the Pakistan has already lost its case on February 2007. These facts have been revealed in official documents of the Ministry of…
GILGIT: An anti-terrorism court (ATC) on Monday sentenced five officials, including a deputy superintendent of police, to 17 years in prison for letting loose Naveed Hussain, a prisoner on death-row, from a jail in Skardu. Five others accused in the case were acquitted by Justice Raja Shahbaz Khan of ATC-1 during the hearing. Hussain, a resident of Gilgit, escaped from Skardu jail in January. He was sentenced to death for killing ATC judge Jamshed Khan…
GILGIT: In a bid to quash any terror plots in Gilgit-Baltistan (G-B), the police has put ‘outsiders’ – especially those from Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) – under strict watch. “We have collected a record of the people from Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) residing in G-B,” Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Ali Sher told The Express Tribune on Monday. He added all non-locals were called in the police station to ‘sensitise’ them of the situation. “We told them as a responsibility…
Gilgit-Baltistan might be the last thing on the minds of Pakistan’s election-contesting parties — none of them have included these far-flung northern areas in their manifestos — but its more politically inclined residents are keeping a close eye on who gets to form a government in Islamabad come May 11.“Our fate-politically, economically, legally — remains in the hands of Islamabad, thanks to the quirks and tragedies of history,” says Tahir Hussain, a Skardu resident. “We…