GB Assembly’s demand

THE newly elected Gilgit-Baltistan Assembly last week adopted a unanimous resolution asking the centre to grant the region provisional provincial status.

This demand is not new and the House has previously issued a similar call. In fact, the demand cuts across party, regional and ethnic lines in GB. The resolution also calls for granting GB “constitutional and political rights”, while adding that until provisional provincial status is achieved, the region should be included in the NFC Award. Crucially, GB’s lawmakers have said the provisional status will be “without prejudice” to Pakistan’s position regarding the Kashmir dispute with India.

This is an important caveat as some within the country are concerned that granting such status to GB could imperil Pakistan’s principled stand on Kashmir. This clarification should put such fears to rest. Equally important is the endorsement given to the GB Assembly’s demand by the All Parties Hurriyat Conference, AJK chapter, considering the historic link between Kashmir and GB.

GB’s journey as a political entity has taken many twists and turns since the area’s people liberated the territory from Dogra rule in 1947-48. Rulers from Zulfikar Ali Bhutto onwards have taken steps to incrementally bring the region closer to Pakistan. Bhutto did away with feudal rule there and reorganised the region as the Northern Areas, while Benazir Bhutto, Pervez Musharraf, Asif Zardari and Nawaz Sharif all took significant steps towards granting it greater political and constitutional rights. But despite this progress, the people’s demand today is clear: integration into Pakistan as a provisional province.

Yet this is a delicate matter. While there can be no argument with the need to give the region full democratic rights, provisional status as a province — which would require changes in the Constitution — must not harm the Kashmir cause. If a legally sound method of integration — till the resolution of the Kashmir question — can be formulated, then by all means the process should begin. A blueprint for such a process already exists in the form of the Sartaj Aziz report.

In this regard, PPP chief Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari has called for constitutional conventions in both GB and AJK. The latter region has been experiencing unrest over the constitutional question of refugee seats. Whether it is GB or AJK, the root cause of popular discontent is the lack of good governance by regional administrations, and the feeling amongst locals that the centre plays an overly large role in their affairs.

Lawmakers from GB and mainstream Pakistan, legal experts and other stakeholders need to come together and discuss how the demands of GB’s people can be satisfied, while not compromising Pakistan’s position on the Kashmir dispute. It would be unfair to deny GB’s population a say in national affairs indefinitely.

Published in Dawn, July 21st, 2026 ...