JK News Today
Jammu, November 08:
Pakistan is playing democracy card in Gilgit-Baltistan where Assembly polls are scheduled for November 15. But there are certain bitter truths that have not been allowed to surface simply because that would embarrass Pakistan and its establishment that rules supreme in the neighbouring country.
It may strange, but the fact is that Pakistan Government has denied land and property rights to the people that were given to them by Dogra rulers
As the things stand, the announcement of the provisional provincial status for Gilgit-Baltistan by Prime Minister Imran Khan on November 1 is part of China induced project apparently to clear all the legal hurdles that are coming up in its way in executing its one Belt Road Initiative of which multi-billion-dollar China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, in short known as CPEC, is flagship programme.
Imran Khan violated the sanctity of the Assembly polls, if it had any, by making this announcement that did not stir any emotions. Such announcements in any part of the world, even if the polls are as farcical as being held in Gilgit-Baltistan, are violation of the code of conduct. But who bothers when the army is conducting the polls and the Chief Election Commissioner of GB is a handpicked man of the establishment.
But this is a deliberate move. Pakistan is having all the plans to grab the territory and hand it over to China. If the people living there are given property rights on the land on which they live, the people will resist more fiercely as they would have the legal and revenue documents in their possession . They will still protest but Pakistan has prepared a ground that the locals do not have the property rights, hence they cannot claim their permanent possession of the land where they, and their forefathers, had been living for decades.
Now coming to the bitter truths that are not known to the outside world. According to a leading lawyer Basharat Ghazi, as quoted in the Dawn newspaper, “the G B Assembly’s legislations are endorsed by the joint secretary of the ministry of Kashmir affairs and Gilgit-Baltistan.”
Basharat goes on to explain that, the “GB Assembly cannot pass legislation on local issues or promulgate any law unless the federal ministry approves it.”
In G-B, the right of ownership is complicated. From 1914-16, the Dogra regime settled cultivable land issues; they gave the rights of the land to locals in order to collect revenue.
This was a fair game that the land, so given for cultivation, gave the right to the regime to collect revenues, while the remaining barren land fell under the ownership of Dogra government. These are historical facts. The barren land that was of no use to the people was not distributed as it would have served little purpose or benefit for the people in the region.
Now, look at what Pakistan government has done in the post-1947 period. It has not transferred property rights and ownership to the residents of the region. As a result, they do not own the land on which they live.
