GILGIT, May 26: The Gilgit-Baltistan Democratic Alliance, which represents nationalist and progressive parties of the region, has decided to initiate a debate on Sunday on a new name for Gilgit-Baltistan, which is administratively known as the “Northern Areas”.

Alliance leaders Ehsan Ali, Ghulam Shahzad Agha, Wazir Shafi and Burhanullah said the debate would centre on historical facts of the region. This was why several intellectuals and historians had been invited to the event. Noted historian Dr Ahmad Hasan Dani was among those invited, they told Dawn.

They said the select committee of the Northern Areas Legislative Council had invited suggestions in this regard. An advertisement published recently in various local newspapers had also sought suggestions on the issue.

The Northern Areas Legislative Council select committee was of the opinion that “Northern Areas” could not deemed a representative name for any region.

The advertisement claimed that the post-earthquake scenario in Azad Kashmir and the NWFP had raised tough questions about the existing nomenclature because the entire world had started describing the whole of the quake-hit region as “northern parts of Pakistan”.