GILGIT-BALTISTAN EMPOWERMENT AND SELF–GOVERNANCE ORDER 2009 Opportunities and Challenges Arranged By : Gilgit-Baltistan Policy Institute (GBPI) Centre For Civic Education Pakistan & Forum of Federation Canada July 2010 Islamabad, Pakistan Executive Summary The Gilgit-Baltistan has been formerly known as the Federally Administered Northern Areas (FANA), is strategically located between China, India and Pakistan. The area is home to a number of endangered wild animals and plants species, and internationally known for its mountain peaks, famous glaciers and high altitude lakes. The world’s second highest mountain peak K-2 is also located in this region. For over 60 years, the people of Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) had been living in a constitutional vacuum, directly administered by the Federal Government of Pakistan from Islamabad without granting legal and constitutional rights to the local people. This curious position arises from the unresolved dispute between Pakistan and India over the former princely state of Jammu and Kashmir of which the GB has be annexed with the disputed territory since the days of British Empire. Pakistan’s Constitutions of 1956, 1962 and 1973 do not recognize GB as territorial part of the country, however, democratic governments and military regimes had been introducing various administrative and governance reforms to strengthen direct rule of Islamabad over the area. The Gilgit-Baltistan has been ruled by cosmetic and band-aid Ordinances introduced time to time without any constitutional cover. After independence in 1947, the Frontier Crimes Regulations (FCR) was enforced in the area. Under this colonial law a civil servant, called Political Agent, exercised all judicial and administrative powers. Initially the Political Agent in Gilgit was placed under the Political Resident of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, (formerly NWFP), in an attempt to extend administrative control and later controlled directly from Islamabad. Other key administrative measures undertaken are: establishment of the Ministry of Kashmir Affairs and Northern Areas (KANA) (1950), appointment of a joint secretary of the Ministry of KANA as Resident with administrative and judicial powers (1952), organizing elections of 16 members of Northern Areas Advisory Council (1970), package of administrative and judicial reforms 1974, declaration of the area as Martial Law Zone-E by Gen. Zia and granting representation in the non-elected Majlis-e-Shura, appointment of a representative from the area as Advisor to Minister for KANA (1985), followed by appointment of an advisor to the Prime Minister in 1988, LFO or Reforms Package of 1994, delegation of legislative powers in 1999, establishment of Northern Areas Court of Appeal in 2005, and Northern Areas Governance order in 2007. The Gilgit-Baltistan Empowerment and Self-Governance Order 2009 is a turning point in the administrative history of the region. Anchored in article 258 of the Constitution of Pakistan, the Order, though short of providing constitutional status to GB, has given the region identity by renaming it as Gilgit-Baltistan and introducing an improved setup of legislative system i.e. Legislative Assembly and GB Council. Now the region has its own Governor, Chief Minster and legislative Assembly. Under GB Empowerment and Self-Governance Order 2009, elections for the Legislative Assembly were held on November 14, 2009. Pakistan Peoples Party emerged as the majority party by winning 14 seats out of the total 33 and formed a coalition government. Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (F) secured four seats, Pakistan Muslim League (Q) 3, Muttahida Quami Movement one seat, Pakistan Muslim League (N) two, and two independent seats in the Legislative Assembly. With assumption of offices by a new government including governor, chief minister and his cabinet ministers, the GB is experiencing a major administrative transformation. To examine and discuss challenges to the new system and opportunities that it brings, the Gilgit-Baltistan Policy Institute in collaboration with Centre for Civic Education Pakistan and the Forum of Federations organized a two-day event titled “Gilgit-Baltistan Empowerment and Self-Governance Order 2009: Challenges and Opportunities” from 12 to 13 July, 2010, in Islamabad. The participants were 14 members of the newly-elected Gilgit-Baltistan Legislative Assembly (GBLA) including the Chief Minister, Speaker and Deputy Speaker as well as two cabinet ministers. Among others were three members of the Gilgit-Baltistan Council, and five former members of the former Northern Areas Legislative Council, social and political activists, and journalists from the GB and Islamabad. The Federal Minister for Information, Mr. Qamar Zaman Kaira who was former governor of the GB was the chief guest at the inaugural session. The speakers/resource persons and participants explored and discussed challenges and opportunities of transformation of the GB administrative and constitutional system in the light of GB Empowerment and Self-Governance Order 2009. This Order was rated as a major step towards integration of the GB into the federation; however, most of the participants were not satisfied with the semi-autonomous provincial status without representation in the national Parliament. The participants were given copies of the Forum of Federation’s research paper on GB Reforms 2009, Urdu translation of the Gilgit-Baltistan Empowerment and Self-Governance Order 2009, copies of the 18 th Amendment of Constitution of Pakistan, and Forum’s publications on different aspects of federalism. A set of Forum’s publications was presented to the Chief Minister, Syed Mehdi Shah, and another to Speaker of the Assembly, Mr. Wazir Baig, for library of the Gilgit-Baltistan Legislative Assembly. The Chief Minister and other participants appreciated the effort of collaborating partners as an enabling exercise in comprehending different aspects of the law, highlighted the need and called for holding of similar events in future. Proceedings Session-I Mr. Zafarullah Khan, Executive Director of the Centre for Civic Education Pakistan, in his opening remarks said that the Gilgit-Baltistan Empowerment and Self-Governance Order 2009 was a significant development that had ushered a new era of empowerment and self-rule in the region. He said federations, laws, and constitutions could not remain static and must evolve with the passage of time and should change according to the peoples’ aspirations. He expressed the hope that the process of giving people of GB right to self-rule and strengthening of the federation would continue in future. Prof. Dr. Rasul Bakhsh Rais, Pakistan’s renowned academic and professor at Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS), in his speech said that the GB Order 2009 was a historic decision and a big step towards regional autonomy and self-rule. He said that perhaps the region was not given constitutional status of a separate province because of the Kashmir dispute and its related international complications; however, the GB now had its own Legislative Assembly, Council, and Executive. Prof. Rais said that to get full benefit of the opportunities that the new governance order had open up, attention must be paid to improve quality of education in the region, especially the higher education. Quality higher education would enable people to explore natural wealth of the region and exploit these resources for their development. He said that the GB Order 2009 must not be viewed as a mere legal framework of rights, powers and limits, but as a fresh start of self-governance. Dr. Rais said that the government of Gilgit-Baltistan could claim more powers and autonomy by evolving best governance and management practices. People of the region were well-aware and very hard working and they could become a role model for the rest of Pakistan by running their affairs effectively and responsibly, he remarked. He said the region had great untapped potential for hydro-electricity generation and asked members of the GB Legislative Assembly to devise power projects and seek international assistance for these schemes. These hydro-projects could be a source of royalty that might help improve living standards in the region. Mr. Qamar Zaman Kaira, Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting, who is also one of the key architects of the Gilgit-Baltistan Empowerment and Self-Governance Order 2009, gave credit of the GB Reforms Package to his late party leader, Benazir Bhutto, who had promised administrative reforms for the region in the Charter of Democracy (CoD), signed in 2006 with PML (N). He quoted form the CoD which says that Northern Areas shall be developed by giving it a special status and further empowering the Northern Areas Legislative Council to provide people of Northern Areas access to justice and human rights. The Minister said that he considered the GB Reforms Package a big milestone of his political career. He said that the PPP has always strived to serve the people across the country and the people of GB have a lot of expectations from the newly elected Assembly there. He said that it is not that much important weather constitutionally Gilgit-Baltistan is part of Pakistan or not, but practically it was an integral part of the country and its people had rendered many sacrifices for Pakistan and in the struggle for democracy in the country. He said the Reforms Package and subsequent PPP’s victory in elections are significant achievements but coming up to the expectations of the people of the area is the bigger