09 July 2004	Friday	20 Jamadi-ul-Awwal 1425

ISLAMABAD, July 8: The Supreme Court has been urged to hear on an urgent basis a petition regarding the protection of the fundamental rights of the people of Northern Areas.

Dr Ghulam Abbas, through an application filed on Thursday, invited the apex court's attention to the elections of the Legislative Council and the local bodies in the Northern Areas, which have been scheduled for Oct 12 and 13, respectively. He prayed that the constitutional status of the Northern Areas and the its people should be adjudicated before these elections.

Dr Abbas had filed a petition some years ago, which has not been adjudicated yet. In the fresh application, the petitioner has urged the court to take up the petition on an urgent basis.

Over two million population of the Northern Areas has been living without fundamental rights for the last 57 years, despite the fact that the Supreme Court had earlier ruled twice that the citizens of both the NA and Pakistan were equal, the petitioner pointed out.

On May 28, 1999, the apex court had ruled that the people of Northern Areas were citizens of Pakistan for all intent and purposes and that they should be given equal rights as enshrined in the 1973 Constitution. The court had also set a timeframe of six months to the federal government to make necessary legislation to this effect.