August 10, 2003	Sunday	Jumadi-us-Sani 11, 1424

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GILGIT, Aug 9: Political and religious bodies have demanded self-rule for the Northern Areas (Gilgit-Baltistan) on the lines of Azad Jammu and Kashmir till the constitutional status of the Northern Areas is determined.

The Northern Areas Legislative Council’s speaker Haji Sahib Khan, NALC member Syed Jafar Shah, Gilgit-Baltistan National Alliance chairman Inayatullah Shumali, chief organiser Baloristan Labour Party Ahsan Ali, Balwaristan Nation Front chairman Nawaz Khan Naji, GBNA vice-chairman Maulana Attaullah Shahab and vice- chairman Northern Areas Bar Council Altaf Hussain expressed these views at a TV programme on the status of the Northern Areas.

The speakers said the Supreme Court of Pakistan verdict regarding the status of the Northern Areas of May 28, 1999 had provided a guideline in the matters pertaining to enforcement of fundamental rights of the people of Gilgit and Baltistan.

They said the apex court had directed the federal government to provide the right of governance through the chosen representatives and to have access to an independent judiciary. But they said the chief executive of the region was not an elected person, while the existing judicial system of the Northern Areas was working as attached department of Kashmir Affairs and Northern Areas (KANA) division which was violation of the Supreme Court’s verdict.

They asked the government to include people of the region as fourth party in the Kashmir issue as they had been directly suffering for the last 57 years due to the Kashmir imbroglio. Syed Jafar Shah, who is also president of PPP Northern Areas, said he had already tabled an interim constitution for the Northern Areas in the shape of a private bill, which was under active consideration of NALC select committee and asked the federal government to reciprocate for its speedy implementation as and when finalized by the NALC.

The NALC speaker Haji Sahib Khan said at present two options were under consideration regarding the political rights of the region as NALC legal committee had sent their recommendations and working paper for amending the existing LFO for Northern Areas, 1994.

The second option, he said, was to implement the proposed interim constitution act for Northern Areas presented by NALC member Syed Jafar Shah.