Chairman of the Gilgit Baltistan United Movement (GBUM)
Engineer Manzoor Parwana has said that the stance of the nationalist parties
was very clear on the CPEC. We are one of the three major parties to the
project .China and Pakistan should consider Gilgit Baltistan the third party in
the CPEC and given our shares as such. He said Gilgit Baltistan is a disputed
territory and it is neither a part of China nor Pakistan. As the area has its
own distinct cultural and historical identity, without including it in the CPEC
project as a partner, none of the two countries – China and Pakistan – can construct
and operate the CPEC route through Gilgit Baltistan. He also demanded that
economic zones should be set up in Gilgit, Skardu and Chilas under the CPEC. He
said that the nationalists were not worried about making Gilgit Baltistan the
fifth province of Pakistan and if Islamabad wants to make it its province the
rulers would damn care to ask the nationalist about it but it is very clear
that Pakistan backs the stance of the nationalist as far as making
Gilgit-Baltistan a constitutional province of Pakistan is concerned. He said
Pakistan cannot make Gilgit Baltistan a province as it would negate its
long-standing stance and policy on the issue of Kashmir. On the other hand,
federalist political and religious parties have for long been demanding that
Gilgit Baltistan should be made a province of Pakistan but under any
international law their demand cannot be met.
The GBUM chief said that that making Gilgit Baltistan a
province was not the solution to the issues being faced by the people of the
region. Had it been the case, the people of Balochistan would have been better
off and not picked up arms against Pakistan for denying them their rights. The
resolution of the issues lies in recognizing and preserving the unique identity
of Gilgit Baltistan and empowering the indigenous people to utilize their own
resources on their development without interferences from outside, he added. He
said that Gilgit Baltistan fulfilled all the requirements to become a state and
there was a need to give the area internal autonomy until the resolution of the
issue of Kashmir. The GBUM chief also said that the nationalist always talked
on the basis of historical evidence and facts. He said the nationalists neither
consider Gilgit Baltistan as a part of AJK, Srinagar nor Pakistan and India.
“We consider Gilgit Baltistan a part of the state of Maharaja Hari Singh and as
Kashmir is on the agenda of the UN as a disputed territory, Gilgit Baltistan is
party to that international dispute, accepted by India and Pakistan as well as
the whole world as such.” He said for over seven decades, Islamabad could not
make Gilgit Baltistan a part of the country. Keeping this view in mind, it is
clear that the disputed territory is not part of any country and has its own
geographical, political and historical significance and identity, he added. He
said the region was at a cross road ad if the people of Gilgit Baltistan played
the game judiciously, their future would be bright otherwise we would lose a
chance and our future generations would be facing the same turmoil and
ambiguity as we have been in the mess for over six decades.
He said that the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC)
would pass through the territory of Gilgit Baltistan but despite this the area
was not given its due shares and benefit. Instead of smoke and environmental
pollution, he claimed, the people of Gilgit Baltistan would get nothing from
the mega international project. He maintained that the nationalist political
parties always thought of the benefit of the people of Gilgit Baltistan but
unfortunately this CPEC project is not in the interest of the people.
The GBUM chief said that in the eyes of the nationalist
political parties elections in the disputed territory have no legal status and
neither these sham polls can ever be the expression of the sentiments of the
people of the region. In an exclusive interview with this newspaper, the GBUM
chief said the elections have never been a process to elect the true
representatives of the people rather these were a process used by the successive
rulers sitting in Islamabad to choose their cohorts and cronies and install in
the area to loot and plunder the resources of the people. He said whenever
these sham elections are held, the nationalist political parties are not
allowed to take part in it freely and neither the people are given a chance to
vote for them. On many occasions, nationalist leaders were bundled up and
vanished from Gilgit-Baltistan or put in jail a few days before the elections
in order to give a free hand to the agents of the rulers to rig the polls and
brig in their own people.
Manzoor Parwana said after last year’s elections, many
people think that the nationalists have remained silent but their silence can
become a catalyst for a larger revolution in the region anytime as there is
always a lull before a deluge. He said there was a time when nationalists were
declared traitor whenever they spoke for the national cause but now even the
federal government and the chief minister of Gilgit Baltistan are speaking the
language of the nationalists. Everyone in Gilgit Baltistan is now supporting
the stance of the nationalists and when the whole world is speaking the
language of the nationalists, headed; it was the need of the hour that the
nationalists should remain silent.
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