By A Correspondent
ISLAMABAD: Efforts are underway to amalgamate and make Gilgit-Baltistan a part of Pakistan and in this regard a committee formed under the directives of the prime minister and the cabinet division has intensified its efforts and asked the ministry of Kashmir affairs and northern areas (KANA) to arrange a briefing on the matter.
Highly informed sources say earlier the officials concerned of the KANA division had made it clear on the federal cabinet, the cabinet division and the ministry of law and justice that Northern Areas was not part of Pakistan and therefore no department including the federal cabinet or any other ministry had no authority to convene a meeting on the issue independently.
It may be noted that proposals had been sought by the cabinet division on making Gilgit-Baltistan a constitutional part of Pakistan. In this regard, the cabinet division had through a letter told the authorities concerned of the ministry that the government wanted to make the region as an integral part of the country. In reply, the KANA division wrote that under Section B of Article 1 of the 1973 constitution, the Northern Areas is not part of Pakistan and therefore it would be unconstitutional to call a meeting by the cabinet division to bring a change in the geographical status of the region.
When contacted, an official of the KANA division told this correspondent that it would depend on the cabinet division whether it wanted to affect an extra constitutional step about the region. However, the official added that as long as he was posted in the division he would be making all-out efforts to keep the cabinet division away from taking any such extra-constitutional step.
On the other hand, the sources said that the package envisaging the constitutional status of Gilgit-Baltistan will be announced at the end of this month.
The ministry of Kashmir affairs and northern areas will also announce the schedule of elections to the Northern Areas Legislative Assembly (NALA) which are due at the end of this year.
Officials said that directives to hold the elections soon after the end of the assembly tenure in November had been issued. In this regard, delimitation of constituencies will be carried out in the region before the polls for which orders will be issued soon.
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