Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Appointment of SAC chief aimed to suppress people’s voice: GBUM

Skardu: 27 January 2008

“The rulers of Pakistan are hell-bent on strengthening the roots of colonial system of governance in Gilgit Baltistan but the voice for self-rule rising against the unjust and cruel means of the rulers is indicative of a big nationalist revolution in the region.”

These views were expressed by Chairman Gilgit Baltistan United Movement while reacting to the appointment of an ex-Supreme Court of Pakistan judge as the chief of the Supreme Appellate Court (SAC) of Gilgit Baltistan.

Manzoor Hussain Parwana said the appointment of a non-local, retired and above all a PCO judge as chief of the SAC was a joke with the people of Gilgit Baltistan.
Such steps illustrates the intention of colonial masters to safeguard the imposing system in the region and suppress the rising voice of the masses for their basic legitimate rights and prolong the de-facto control.

The appointment of the outsider and a retired judge on the post ignoring the adequate and indigenous judge had also exposed the hollow claims of government to give the local people a democratic setup. He added

He announced to launch a movement for attaining the basic rights of the local people and call the masses to join hand with nationalist movement to resist against the illegal appointment of the non-local judge in the region.


Issued By
Gilgit Baltistan United Movement
Skardu Baltistan

Saturday, January 24, 2009

Govt accused of injustice in Gilgit Baltistan





23 January 2009


Govt accused of injustice in Gilgit Baltistan

SKARDU, Jan 22: GilgitBaltistan is fast slipping into poverty, joblessness, social injustice and backwardness due to the illplanned policies and coloniallike system of government, an activist said.
Talking to a delegation of youth in Islamabad, GilgitBaltistan United Movement Manzoor Hussain Parwana said: “The major reason behind the economic decline in GilgitBaltistan is ‘conspiracies’ by Pakistani ruling class due to which no industry was set up in the region during the last six decades and the locals were also not allowed to set up small-scale industries.” Mr Parwana said it was an irony that the graduating students of Gilgit-Baltistan failed to get jobs in their region despite having the required qualifications. Outsiders are given priority over the local residents in bureaucracy, judiciary and administration. A large number of locals are now jobless, he added.
“Gilgit-Baltistan, the last colony of the world, has become heaven for the retired civil and military bureaucracy of Pakistan. All administrative and key posts are reserved for non-locals to strengthen the control on the region,” he remarked.
Mr Parwana asked the government to change its “discriminatory attitude” towards the region otherwise “the continuing the suppression will not be as easy as it had been in the past.”—Correspondent

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Thursday, January 22, 2009

Gilgit Baltistan leader offers Congratulation to Obama


Gilgit Baltistan United Movement a pro-democracy and pro-independent organization based in Skardu, Pakistan control part of Kashmir has congratulated President Barack Hussain Obama on his assumption of office as the 44th President of the United States.
This is contained in a statement by Manzoor Hussain Parwana, Chairman of the movement. Parwana expressed the hope that Obama would use his influences to restore the sovereignty of small nations of the world such as Palestine, Kashmir and Gilgit Baltistan.
The issue of Gilgit Baltistan needed due concentration of the world body because the 2 million people of the region is facing wrath colonization last six decades. Gilgit Baltistan not existed at the map of any country in the world nor it has its constitutional assembly nor comprised in any state assembly.


Issued by
Gilgit Baltistan United Movement
Skardu Baltistan
Date 21/1/2009

Gilgit Baltistan: Government policies the root cause of economic decline

Gilgit Baltistan: Government policies the root cause of economic decline

Skardu: 22 January 2009

“Gilgit Baltistan is drowning deep in the ocean of poverty, misery, joblessness, alienation, social injustices and backwardness day by day due to the ill-planned policies and colonial system of government of Pakistan .”

These views were expressed by Chairman Gilgit Baltistan United Movement Manzoor Hussain Parwana while meeting a delegation of youth at Islamabad.

He said the major reason behind the economic decline in Gilgit Baltistan was conspiracies of Pakistani ruling class due to which no single industry was set up in the region for six decades neither was the locals allowed to set up small scale industries. It is an irony that the students of Gilgit Baltistan fail to get jobs in their region despite getting degrees. Non-locals are given priority over the local residents in bureaucracy, judiciary and administration and the local residents of Gilgit Baltistan are joblessness.

“Gilgit Baltistan the last colony of the world has become Heaven for the retired civil and military bureaucracy of Pakistan. All administrative and key posts are reserved for non-locals to strengthen the colonial control on the region” He opined.

Parwana demanded of the government to change its discriminatory towards the region otherwise continuing the suppression will not be as easy as it has been in the past.



Issued by
Gilgit Baltistan United Movement
Skardu Baltistan

Monday, January 12, 2009

Gilgit Baltistan: War is Forbidden Along Borders


Gilgit Baltistan: War is Forbidden Along Borders
UNPO Netherland Monday, 12 January 2009
Pakistan and India must stop fighting since “war is not the solution”.

Below is a Statement made by Manzoor Hussain Parwana, Chairman of the Gilgit Baltistan United Movement which is part of the Gilgit Baltistan Democratic Alliance, and a UNPO member as of September 2008.


“War is not the solution of the problem so Pakistan and India should stop thinking of defeating each other in the war field. We won’t allow any body to make Gilgit Baltistan a war field. If Pakistan and India try to make our region as battled field then we will compel to invite international community to intervene in the matter”. It was stated by Manzoor Hussain Parwana, Chairman Gilgit Baltistan United Movement addressing a press conference here at Skardu.

Parwana concerned that some peoples have been issuing statements to the local press that they will fight along with the armed forces. They do not know the distraction of the war. He demanded the government to stop emotional blackmailing of the astute mass of the region in the name of religion.

“We are neither part of India nor Pakistan so why should we give our lives for the mere fulfillment of the ill will agendas of either of the both: He added

He said the region can be brought in parallel with the developed nations of the world if the minerals and natural resources of the region are fully utilized.

“Gilgit Baltistan was blessed with natural gifts and if they are fully utilized they can bring an economic revolution the region”. He concluded.

Web link :
http://www.unpo.org/content/view/9080/254/

Sunday, January 11, 2009

Press in Gilgit Baltistan under the gun yet

Freedom of expression in conflict situations: Pakistan

A tradition of information control
By I. A. Rehman

Pakistan came into being in August 1947 in circumstances that made its founding fathers acutely conscious of its security needs. To an extent this was understandable as the State had no history of its own, it had been born in a climate of tension and hostility with a bigger neighbour (India), and with a quite a few questions marks on its ability to survive.
The high priority attached to matters of survival and security made the State’s managers extra-sensitive to dissent and criticism. They were easily persuaded to justify and retain the measures the erstwhile colonial authority had devised to control and manipulate the media and they were not wanting in efforts to make governance more secret than before.
The state of media at the time of independence, too, was not wholly conducive to the growth of a strong, independent and transparent media. There were only a few newspapers that catered to a small minority of readership in a country where literacy was around 12 percent. The newspapers were divided into a small English press and a larger press in indigenous languages. In one part of the country (East Bengal) Bengali language newspapers commanded much greater audience than newspapers in English. Similarly in West Pakistan newspapers in Urdu quickly acquired larger leadership than newspapers in English. The radio in public sector covered a small area and was strictly controlled by the government.

One of the most bizarre instances of suppression of newspapers in Pakistan involved the banning of Islamabad Times before the first issue of the daily was published. On August 31, 2004, a week before the Urdu daily was scheduled to be launched, officials in plain clothes entered the printing press in Rawalpindi where the paper was being put together and ordered stoppage of all work on the job. When Abdul Aziz, the printer, asked for a reason the officials left, only to return with a police party that arrested the printer, his son and two employees, closed the press and seized the equipment. The editor, Masood Malik, said he had completed all legal formalities for bringing out the daily. Taking note of the matter, Reporters Sans Frontiers suspected that the editor had invited administration’s wrath for having put General Musharraf an unwelcome question at his press conference in 2001 after the aborted summit with Indian Prime Minister Attal Bihari Vajpaee.
‘Kargil International’, a monthly published from Skardu, Northern Areas, was banned by the home department and all copies of the magazine confiscated on September 8, 2004. According to the Chief Editor, Engineer Manzoor Hussain Parwana, no notice was served on the paper nor was any ground for action against it communicated to him. About two months later, the magazine’s publisher and Managing Editor, Ghulam Shehzad Agha, was arrested and thrown in prison, apparently on the basis of the FIR registered by the Skardu Police Station House Officer on November 3, 2004, on orders from higher authorities. The FIR stated that “Ghulam Shehzad Agha, aided by Manzoor Husain Parwana, Editor, had published in the July-August 2000 issue of Kargil International material designed to instigate the public against Pakistan President, General Pervez Musharraf. Besides maligning the President of Pakistan, General Pervez Musharraf, they have committed libel on him, and both of them are liable to action…… Therefore, as ordered by higher authorities, this case against the two persons / accused is instituted for throwing mud on President of Pakistan, General Pervez Musharraf, committing libel and instigating the people. Both persons / accused have committed offences under Sec. 501 and 505-B PPC.”
Till the time of writing Engineer Manzoor Husain Parwana, Chief Editor of the magazine, has not been arrested as he has stayed out of Northern Areas. On November 9, 2004 he issued a statement denying all charges against him. He said he had been fighting for the rights of the two million people of Gilgit Baltistan for 10 years, that he had been publishing stories of the bravery of the real heroes of the Kargil war (the soldiers belonging to the Northern Light Infantry) and the problems faced by their widows and families, and had demanded the formation of a commission to inquire into the Kargil conflict.

Reference:
http://www.hrcp-web.org/article_conflict_situations.cfm

GBUM condemned Israeli strike on Gaza

Gilgit Baltistan United Movement has strongly condemned Israeli attack on Gaza killing more than 850 Palestinians by Israeli warplanes on Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip.
Manzoor Parwana Chairman Gilgit Baltistan United Movement said that we are the most deprived nation of the world but we support the enslaved and deprived nations over the world and sympathized with them.
Parwana said that the indiscriminate use of force by the Israeli Defence Force, which has caused unwarranted loss of innocent civilian life, particularly of women and young children in Gaza. Such independent action must stop immediately."


Issued
GBUM
Skardu

Friday, January 9, 2009

War is not allowed along with Gilgit Baltistan boarders.


“War is not the solution of the problem so Pakistan and India should stop thinking of defeating each other in the war field. We won’t allow any body to make our region a war field. If Pakistan and India try to make our region as battled field then we will compel to invite international community to intervene in the matter”. It was stated by Manzoor Hussain Parwana, Chairman Gilgit Baltistan United Movement addressing a press conference here at Skardu.

Parwana concerned that some peoples have been issuing statements to the local press that they will fight along with the armed forces. They do not know the distraction of the war. He demanded the government to stop emotional blackmailing of the astute mass of the region in the name of religion.
“We are neither part of India nor Pakistan so why should we give our lives for the mere fulfillment of the ill will agendas of either of the both: He added

He said the region can be brought in parallel with the developed nations of the world if the minerals and natural resources of the region are fully utilized.

“Gilgit Baltistan was blessed with natural gifts and if they are fully utilized they can bring an economic revolution the region”. He concluded.



Kargil News Network
Skardu