London: A UK-based Kashmiri group has accused Pakistan of never hesitating to fund militants in the Northern Areas and rejected that country’s move to give the Gilgit-Baltistan region a province-like status. “Pakistani establishment has always exploited the people of Gilgit-Baltistan. It has never hesitated to fund jihadi and sectarian Taliban in the region for a long time,” Mujatba Ali Shah, Information Secretary of the United Kashmir People’s National Party (UKPNP), told Kashmiris demonstrating in front…
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The Dawn, Sept 28 GILGIT, Sept 27: The incident of violence in which four persons died on Saturday has been widely condemned in the region declaring it an act to sabotage the forthcoming elections. Talking to this correspondent, Pakistan Muslim League-N president Hafizur Rehman the act of terror would not affect the ongoing political reforms and elections for the Gilgit-Baltistan Legislative Assembly. He said involvement of external hands were possible in the incident. He expressed…
By Zulfiqar Ali Khan in The Dawn, Sept 27 HUNZA, Sept 26: People of Hunza as part of their ongoing protest drive organised a big rally under the aegis of All Hunza Action Committee (AHAC) here on Friday for acceptance of their demands. They were demanding an additional seat in Gilgit-Baltistan Legislative Assembly (GBLA) before the forthcoming election. This was the third major public protest after the successful events in Aliabad and Nasirabad Hunza. The…
GILGIT, Sept 26: Four people were killed and several others injured on Saturday in a bomb blast and violent protests that followed, police said. The bomb went off in a bookshop in a busy market on the Airport Road, injuring four people. They were taken to the DHQ hospital where one of them died. Gilgit police chief Khurshid Alam said it was a locally-made device. After the blast, protesters took to the streets and pelted…
By Tariq Naqash MUZAFFARABAD, Sept 25: The president of his own faction of Muslim Conference (MC-F) Raja Farooq Haider on Friday announced that his party will convince Prime Minister Sardar Mohammad Yaqoob Khan to file a reference through President Raja Zulqarnain Khan with the Supreme Judicial Council against AJK Supreme Court Chief Justice Reaz Akhtar Chaudhry for alleged breach of constitution. Talking to journalists, he claimed that Mr Chaudhry had ceased to qualify as judge…
By Tariq Naqash in The Dawn, Sept 26 MUZAFFARABAD, Sept 25: In what many official circles regard as sheer disregard to clear instructions of the federal government as well as treasury rules, the AJK finance department has released a tranche of Rs210 million to the Local Government and Rural Development (LG&RD) department under alleged intense pressure by the government in order to allow the department to carry on its practice of advance withdrawal of funds…
ISLAMABAD, Sept 25: The Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) may forge an alliance with the Pakistan Muslim League-N to form a coalition government in Gilgit-Baltistan, according to the party’s secretry-general Jehangir Badr. “We can make an alliance with any political party in the region,” he said at a press conference here on Friday after a meeting with leaders of his party in Gilgit-Baltistan. Political analysts here believe that there is a possibility of the PPP and…
GILGIT, Sept 24: Experts have raised questions about the legal status of forthcoming elections for Gilgit-Baltistan Legislative Assembly, saying that polls will be in violation of the newly promulgated Empowerment and Self-governance Ordinance 2009 if a free and independent election commission is not formed for the purpose. They fear that the entire process of elections for legislative assembly can be challenged in a court of law after the promulgation of the self-governance ordinance. The ordinance…
SKARDU, Sept 23: Nomination papers for election to the Gilgit-Baltistan Legislative Assembly will be accepted until Oct 1 and polling will be held on Nov 12. According to the election schedule announced here, the last date for submission of objections is Oct 9 and the final list for candidates will be displayed on Oct 15. Election symbols will be allotted on Oct 17. The results will be announced on Nov 14. According to a television…
( the author is a London based Kashmir leader. He is the General Secretary of JKCHR – NGO in Special Consultative Status with the UN) Way back in 1887, Walter Lawrence wrote – “The Kashmiri is made up of contradictions. He is timid yet persistent, degraded yet intellectual. ..He would not hesitate to throw his burden on his neighbour’s shoulders and if he failed he would depart to some other village under the aegis of…
By Tariq Naqash in The Dawn, Sept 19 MUZAFFARABAD, Sept 18: The president of the ruling faction of Muslim Conference (MC-F) Raja Farooq Haider on Friday demanded of the chairman Azad Jammu and Kashmir Council (Prime Minister of Pakistan) to dissolve and reconstitute the superior judiciary in AJK which he alleged was overstepping its authority and role. “The judiciary is supposed to check the other two organs of the state – executive and legislature –…