Gilgit-Baltistan will vote for a new legislative assembly on Monday under the watchful eyes of the Pakistan Army.
Troops have been deployed across all districts of Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) three days ahead of polls at the request of the election commission and the local civil administration, according to the army spokesman.
Over 600,000 voters will decide the fate of 289 candidates during the June 8 ballot for 24-elected seats in the 33-member legislative assembly.
The Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is
seen as the front runner amidst charges it has indulged in pre-poll rigging.
Besides the PML-N, which is contesting all seats, others in the fray
include the Pakistan People's Party (PPP), the Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaaf (PTI), the Jamaat-e-Islami, the JuI (Fazlur Rahman), the Majlis Wahadat-e-Muslims, the Tehrik-e-Islami-Pakistan and the Muttahida Quami Movement (MQM).
While the Shia Ulema Council has entered the scene under the banner of Tehrik-e-Islam, the Quaid Muslim League has announced a boycott of the election since its three winners in the last election have switched over to the ruling party.
Already anticipating a PML-N victory, a dozen senior leaders of the PPP and other parties have switched over their loyalties. Islamudin,Haji Qurban, Agha Foker, Yahya Shah (all PPP), Abdul Latif and Mahmoodal Hasan (both PTI), Aurangzeb Khan (Awami Party) and Raja Azam (MQM) are among the notable turncoats.
G-B Scout and local police are also out in full strength at all 1022 polling stations. At least 119 polling stations have been declaredthe most sensitive and another 153 polling booths have been declaredsensitive.
The contest is expected to be keen and multi-cornered in the two constituencies of Gilgit District. While 38 are in the fray for Gilgit -I, twenty four are trying their luck in Gilgit-II. As many as 39 candidates are contesting the Hunza-Nagar District which is close by the Karakorum Highway.
One of the colourful personalities in the fray is Baba Jan, who is presently in jail serving a life sentence for instigating a mob to resort toviolence in the Hunza Valley in 2011. A vice president of the Left -oriented Awami Workers Party (AWP), he is locked in a multi-cornered contest in GBLA 6, a constituency in Gilgit. AWP workers from Lahore and other parts of Pakistan are canvassing for him, saying "there is a sympathy wave for Jan".
In the run up to the election, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf chief Imran Khan, Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly, Khursheed Shah, former minister for Information Qamar Zaman Kaira and severalleaders of mainstream political and religious parties descended on the region giving a new lease of life to the nascent political process.
Amid the flurry of last-minute pledges, "there is a looming fear that promises made before the elections will once again remainunfulfilled," says local journalist Shabbir Mir
During the first G-B election held in 2009, the then Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani pledged to develop Gilgit and Skardu Airports for landing of Boeing aircraft, but, this promise remains unfulfilled till date, and so do the promise of more jobs, Mir reported in his dispatch from Gilgit to The Express Tribune on June 7.
Gilgit -Baltistan, which was earlier known as the Northern Areas, was part of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir until Pakistan occupied this region in 1947.The areas remains one the most neglected parts of Pakistan with the people denied their fundamental rights. They are not allowed to take part in Pakistan's parliamentary elections either.
Diplomatic and political observers say the new ballot will not materially alter the ground situation "since the GBLA has limited authority and the real power rests in Rawalpindi and Islamabad".
An element of uncertainty was introduced on the eve of polls with a writ petition being filed before the Islamabad High Court against the G-B election.
"The notification for holding GB Legislative Assembly (GBLA) election was unlawful", claimed the writ filed by the All Pakistan Muslim League (APML), which is led by former military dictator, Pervez Musharraf.
"The Government (of Pakistan) has no constitutional and legal authority to issue any such executive orders, adopt and enforce the ordinary and special laws in Gilgit-Baltistan (GB), appoint chief minister, chief election commissioner to hold elections, and thus, rule the people of the area in the colonial way", the APML chief coordinator Ahmed Raza Khan Kasuri told the court in his petition.
He charged that the Ministry of Kashmir Affairs is "ruling the two million people of Gilgit-Baltistan in a colonial way by violating their fundamental rights".
The High Court did not issue any stay, but served notices to the federal government and G-B governor, Chaudhry Birjees Tahir, who is also the Federal Minister for Kashmir Affairs.
The opposition Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Party (PTI) has already challenged the appoint of Birjees as governor, terming it as a "bid to allow premature rigging".
In a petition filed before the Supreme Court, the PTI also raised a question marks over the appointment of the Chief Election Commissioner for Gilgit Baltistan.
The Constitutions of 1956, 1962 and 1973 of Pakistan does not recognize Gilgit Baltistan as a part of Pakistan. Under the Provisional Constitutional Act, 1974, the PoK High Court has the right to hear all petitions concerning PoK and the Northern Areas, but the Supreme Court ruled in September 1994 that the Northern Areas are part of the state of Jammu and Kashmir and not of PoK.
In another verdict in May 1999, the Supreme Court directed the Pakistan Government to ensure that basic human rights and other political and administrative institutions are provided to the Northern Areas with the caveat that any action should not adversely affect Pakistan's stand concerning the Kashmir issue. The order still remains to be implemented.
India on the other hand has reserved 25 seats for PoK and Gilgit Baltistan in the Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly on the basisof the 1951 census.
The views expressed in the above article are that of Mr. S.K.Sharma.
By S.K.
