10 April 2004	Saturday	19 Safar 1425

GILGIT, April 9: The Northern Areas Deputy Chief Executive Haji Fida Muhammad Nashad announced on Friday that over 7,000 refugees who had been displaced due to the Indian firing along the Line of Control (LoC) had started returning to their homes from refugee camps in Skardu and Gangche districts in Baltistan region.

Talking to reporters Mr Nashad said 62 families from Mamoshthung, 284 from Frano and 40 from Siari, altogether comprising 3,126 people are now gradually shifting to their respective localities along the LoC.

The Northern Areas Legislative Council Member Agha Muhammad Ali Shah Rizvi said of 13 affected villages of Kharmang valley, people of one village have already begun returning home.

Mr Nashad said in Gultari sector over 612 families that comprising 4,512 persons who migrated to low-lying areas before the cease-fire on November 2003, were not ready to return to their homes due to heavy snowfall and fear of avalanches. They have delayed their plan till July when the snow melts on the Deosi Plateau.

Mr Nashad said Gangani and Rullmou villages were the worst affected where 80 percent of the population was displaced due to firing along the LoC. Responding a question about whether there has been firing along the LoC, Mr Nashad said that not a single shot had been fired ever since the cease-fire had taken effect along the LoC.

About the rehabilitation of the refugees, Mr Nashad said they had resubmitted a case to the federal government for requisition of rations for the refugees and the International Committee of Red Cross (ICRC) had also been approached for providing more logistic support as it had been providing relief to the LoC refugees in the past.

He said they had sent a case to the ministry of Kashmir Affairs and Northern Areas and sought funds for reconstruction of the damaged houses and infrastructure development in the affected areas while compensation cases which were accrued before 2001 had already been settled.

NOMINATION: The women members of the Northern Areas Legislative Council (NALC) have opposed the nomination of Atiqa Ghazanfar as the woman representative of the Northern Areas in the National Commission on Status of Women (NCSW).

Talking to reporters after the NALC session on Thursday the women members including Farida Batool, Aqeela Khatoon and Shaista Shamim Hamza contended that the nomination was not being done on the merit as Ms Ghazanfar had already represented women in NCSW and now she had also managed to re-appoint herself through backdoor and personal contacts.

"I had met President Pervez Musharraf in this regard and he assured me of the merit in selection to NCSW. But a privileged woman managed to get herself appointed in connivance with the Kashmir Affairs and Northern Areas (KANA) division", Farida Batool said.

The NALC members said they had submitted the names of Farida Batool, Erum Wali Khan, Nasira Begum for nomination to represent Northern Areas women in the Commission but all the proposed names were dropped by the Kana.

"Ms Ghazanfar is oblivious of the problems and rights of women of Gilgit-Baltistan and she wanted to hold the membership merely to increase personal clouts as she lives in Islamabad all the time," they argued. They demanded of the government to withdraw the nomination of Ms Ghazanfar otherwise they would table a resolution in the NALC for her removal.