THE demand of the people of Gilgit-Baltistan for provisional provincial status is not a new one, and has been reiterated again by the region’s assembly. On Tuesday, the GB Assembly passed a unanimous resolution, supported by all parties in the house, demanding an amendment to the Constitution to enable GB to become a provisional province of Pakistan, without prejudice to the Kashmir dispute.

It also called for representation of the region in the Senate and National Assembly. According to GB Chief Minister Khalid Khurshid Khan, the demand is of the people of the region, not of any party or individual. Moreover, before last year’s elections to the region’s assembly, Prime Minister Imran Khan had announced that the northern region would be granted the status of a province.

The long-standing demand of the people of GB is indeed a just one. The region’s people are present in almost every part of the country and very much form part of the national fabric. The area’s people have contributed to this country’s progress in the health, education, arts, sports and military fields, amongst others, and in fact opted for Pakistan right after independence, putting up a brave resistance to the Dogra rulers of Kashmir. Yet their constitutional status is ambiguous, while they have no representation in the upper and lower houses of parliament.

This is a situation that can and should be remedied. The concerns of some within the ruling circles about the matter affecting Pakistan’s case vis-à-vis India-held Kashmir if GB is merged as a province are genuine, as historically the region has been linked to Kashmir. But that is why the proviso of granting provisional provincial status has been included in the resolution, to protect Pakistan’s case under the relevant UN resolutions. Over the past few decades successive governments have taken steps to grant GB greater autonomy. This was witnessed during the Musharraf era, while under the PPP’s watch in 2009 the region gained its present nomenclature, changed from the colonial-era Northern Areas.

While all these moves have contributed to ensuring greater rights in the region, the time is ripe to grant full provincial status — albeit on a provisional basis — to the mountainous area as per the democratic aspirations of the local population. Of course, homework on this front should be done thoroughly, and legal changes must be cleared by experts to ensure full rights to the region, as well as protect Pakistan’s position in the Kashmir dispute.

Published in Dawn, March 11th, 2021