The writer is a freelance columnist based in Islamabad. The contemporary society of Gilgit is undergoing an existential crisis begotten by drastic changes and ruptures caused by the forces of modernisation. For the last four decades it has been exposed to a medley of forces which are exogenous, but which have given birth to trends endogenous to the society. These changes have enabled people to get rid of a few institutions and actors that were…
Posts published in October 2014
By Shabbir Mir in The Express Tribune, October 31st, 2014 GILGIT: Nearly two and a half months after being passed by the Gilgit-Baltistan (G-B) Legislative Assembly, the G-B Local Government Bill 2014 was finally signed into law by Governor Pir Karam Ali Shah on Thursday. The assembly had unanimously passed the bill on August 18 after a select committee of lawmakers debated its pros and cons. However, the delay in its enactment had raised…
By Shabbir Mir in The Express Tribune, October 31st, 2014. GILGIT: As Muharram progresses, Shia representatives have resigned from the Masajid Board in Gilgit, complaining their suggestions to maintain sectarian harmony were overlooked. The resignations mean Shias have no representation in a body that played a crucial role in restoring peace after more than 50 people were killed in the region in sectarian violence during 2011-12. “We were compelled to take this decision,”…
MUZAFFARABAD: The affected persons of the Neelum-Jhelum Hydroelectric Project (NJHEP) in Chattar Klass area on Tuesday blocked the Muzaffarabad-Rawalpindi Road for four hours near the main site of the power house to press for their demands. Placing tractors in the middle of the road and setting fire to tyres, protesters chanted slogans against the Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda). “For the last four years, we have been demanding our rights and compensation…
By Shabbir Mir in The Express Tribune, October 30th, 2014. GILGIT: Progressive leader Baba Jan and two others were handed life imprisonment by an anti-terrorism court (ATC) in Gilgit in yet another case on Wednesday. The decision was read out by ATC No 1 judge Raja Shehbaz Khan, who had recently awarded life imprisonment to Jan and 11 others for ransacking police stations and torching government property in Hunza in 2011. In addition,…
MUZAFFARABAD: Growing contacts between Minister for Kashmir Affairs Chaudhry Barjees Tahir and the Peoples Party-led AJK government have served to create a gulf between him and his Muslim League-N, it has been learnt. The Azad Jammu and Kashmir chapter of ML-N has written a letter to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, asking him to replace Mr Tahir when the expected reshuffle of the federal cabinet takes place. Sources said when the minister came to…
BEIJING: Schools in China’s mainly Muslim Xinjiang region, where a series of attacks has left hundreds dead in recent months, said they would actively discourage religious practice at home, state-run media reported Wednesday. Principals at more than 2,000 kindergartens, primary schools and secondary schools in Kashgar, near China’s border with Pakistan, signed a pledge to “defend schools against the infiltration of religion”, according to a report by the Global Times, which is close to…
The writer is a poet and author based in Islamabad. Tense bordersLo and behold! In the present circumstances, the last thing we would have wanted to happen has happened. As if the continuous exchange of fire at the LoC with India was not enough, there was a flare up at the Pak-Iran border. Fortunately, for the time being, the two countries have agreed to resolve issues amicably, to strengthen border controls, to show restraint…
The writer is a retired lieutenant general of the Pakistan Army and served as chairman of the Pakistan Ordnance Factories Board Once again, India-Pakistan relations are passing through testing times. The Line of Control (LoC), but more significantly, the Working Boundary, has become extremely volatile with highly belligerent statements being directed against Pakistan by the top leadership of the BJP and the Indian army chief. Pakistan’s response has been relatively far more temperate both, at…
The Express Tribune, October 29th, 2014. MUZAFFARABAD: The affected persons of the Neelum-Jhelum Hydroelectric Project (NJHEP) in Chattar Klass area on Tuesday blocked the Muzaffarabad-Rawalpindi Road for four hours near the main site of the power house to press for their demands. Placing tractors in the middle of the road and setting fire to tyres, protesters chanted slogans against the Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda). “For the last four years, we have been demanding…
In May, I visited Vietnam and met with university students. After a week of being love-bombed by Vietnamese, who told me how much they admire America, want to work or study there and have friends and family living there, I couldn’t help but ask myself: “How did we get this country so wrong? How did we end up in a war with Vietnam that cost so many lives and drove them into the arms of…