GILGIT, June 12: Employees of various departments, including civil secretariat, on Wednesday observed a pen down strike to demand revocation of a federal government notification withdrawing a special allowance paid to government workers in the region. The region’s all employees association had given call for the strike. Routine work was suspended in all offices and people visiting these offices faced problems. The employees wore black ribbons on their hands. They had also displayed banners in…
Posts published in June 2013
MUZAFFARABAD: The government of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) on Tuesday constituted a three-member committee headed by the chief secretary of Azad Kashmir Ilm Din Balu to address the issues of 1989 Kashmiri refuges settled in AJK. According to the sources, the AJK government has taken the Kashmiri refugees Monday sit-in and rally in front of Central Press Club seriously and formed a body on the special instructions of Prime Minister Chaudhry Abdul Majid to…
GILGIT: Shia cleric Agha Rahat Hussaini and 200 adherents set an unforeseen precedent for religious tolerance as they attended a Deobandi scholar’s lecture in a Sunni congregation. The Tablighi Ijtima, which started on June 9 in Gilgit, is attended by hundreds of thousands from across the country and is held under the banner of the Tablighi Jamaat, a Sunni organisation. The sermon was delivered by Deobandi preacher Maulana Tariq Jamil. Hussaini, who is a top…
By Shabbir Mir in Express Tribune, June 11 GILGIT: The ongoing Tablighi Ijtima in Gilgit-Baltistan (G-B) has provided an opportunity to bring Sunni and Shia sects closer in a manner the region has never witnessed before. On Monday, Maulana Tariq Jamil delivered a sermon in the central Shia mosque, preaching peace, tolerance and respect for each other’s beliefs. Jamil is a well-known Deobandi preacher whose religious activities took root in Raiwind, Lahore. He is one…
GILGIT: Gilgit residents have lost their patience and hold the government responsible for the water crisis which entered its fourth day on Sunday. “The crisis hits the town every year but the government fails to find a solution to the problem,” said Nizamuddin, a senior Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) leader. On Thursday, flashfloods swept away the main water channel and pipelines in Kargah valley, suspending water supply to the city. Authorities had said alternative arrangements were being…
GILGIT: As extended power breakdowns in Punjab made life miserable in the summer months, Saeed, a businessman in Rawalpindi, took time out from work and returned home, only to find an equally agonising water crisis in Gilgit. A resident of Gilgit, Saeed runs a small construction and supply business in Rawalpindi. Amid perpetual load-shedding in the region and temperatures of 44 degrees Celsius, Saeed decided to take a break and spend some time with his…
ISLAMABAD: While newly-elected Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif made some positive overtures to India soon after his party won the election, senior Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) officials say no major foreign policy initiative towards the neighbouring country is likely to take place soon. His inner party circles as well as foreign policy-making institutions in Pakistan have given him the same advice: As far as normalising relations with India is concerned, keep it slow. PML-N officials said…
By Shabbir Mir in The Express Tribune, June 6 GILGIT: Chinese authorities are optimistic they will complete the renovation of a decades-old Chinese cemetery by October. The renovation is being carried out to pay homage to Chinese labourers and engineers who lost their lives nearly 40 years ago during the construction of the Karakoram Highway (also referred to as the ‘Friendship Highway’) during 1966-76. The cemetery – locally known as ‘China Yadgar’ – is located…
By Shahbaz Rana in The Express Tribune, June 6 ISLAMABAD: Newly-elected Prime Minister Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif, in his maiden speech, revealed that Islamabad and Beijing have expressed a keen desire to implement the Gwadar-Khunjerab-Kashgar rail network. The project had been discussed during talks with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang in his recent visit to Pakistan. While PM Sharif said the actual details of the project would be shared at a later date, he also stated…
By Shabbir Mir in The Express Tribune, June 5th, 2013. GILGIT: In the aftermath of the May 11 elections and the emergence of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) as the largest party at the centre, the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) is in a fix whether to retain its coalition partners in Gilgit-Baltistan (G-B). Current PPP coalition partners include the JUI-F, PML-Q and Muttahida Qaumi Movement. PPP loyalists are advising G-B Chief Minister Mehdi Shah to…
GILGIT, June 4: People of Thore valley of Diamer district blocked the Karakoram Highway on Tuesday to protest government’s failure to settle the boundary dispute between Gilgit-Baltistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The status of a few kilometers area on both sides of the Basari check post, which separates the two regions, is not clear, often leading to unrest between people of Diamer and Kohistan. Police said the people of Harban valley of Kohistan district had blocked…