GILGIT: The lawyers across the 10 districts of Gilgit-Baltistan on Friday observed a strike in protest against the indecision of the government in Islamabad on the proposed constitutional reforms in GB. The protest call was given by the bar associations and lawyers groups.

At an urgent meeting of the GB Bar Council held in Gilgit, the senior members of the council reviewed its petition in the Supreme Court regarding reforms in GB and discussed the overall development on the issue by the federal government.

The lawyers demanded of the federal government to make GB a special provisional province pending the resolution of Kashmir dispute.

Through a resolution, the lawyers demanded complete membership of GB in the constitutional bodies of Pakistan instead of an observer status being discussed in Islamabad.

They demanded extension of Supreme Court of Pakistan’s jurisdiction to GB through a circuit bench besides declaring the existing chief court as high court. They also demanded appointments on existing vacant post of judges of the superior courts through judicial commission and on the pattern of the Supreme Court and high courts.

The lawyers also decided to protest across GB in case the federal government again introduced an executive order instead of a constitutional set up through amendments in the constitution.

It is to mention here that lawyers in GB have already challenged the GB Self Governance Order, 2009, and GB Order, 2018 in Supreme Court.

Apart from lawyers, Governor Raja Jalal Hussain Maqpoon has also suggested the federal government to make GB a special province provisionally.

In his recommendation to the federal government the governor has recommended making amendments in article 257 of the constitution to give fundamental rights to millions of people in GB without harming the country’s international obligations regarding the Kashmir dispute.

Published in Dawn, December 1st, 2018