GILGIT: The recent appointments by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to the Gilgit-Baltistan Chief Court have led to a controversy as the region’s cabinet has rejected the appointments and announced it would challenge them in the Supreme Court.

Meanwhile, the GB government has decided to resist the alleged conspiracy to dissolve the assembly before the completion of its tenure.

The meeting of the cabinet held on Monday was chaired by Chief Minister Khalid Khurshid Khan.

The cabinet, while rejecting the appointments, said they were made without consultation with the regional government. It also declared the appointments ‘illegal’.

The meeting was told that the GB governor was mandated by law to consult the regional government before sending the summary to the centre for the appointment of judges. However, the process was ‘sabotaged’.

Addressing the meeting, the chief minister said in the matter of appointing judges, the ‘imported’ federal government violated the powers of the GB government and disregarded the law.

“The federal government wants to completely paralyse the elected government of GB as it intends to dissolve the elected assembly of the region,” Mr Khurhsid said.

While condemning the alleged conspiracy to dissolve the assembly, the cabinet vowed to fight against such moves, saying that such a decision would be against the interest of the people of GB.

He said first the federal government made cuts to GB’s budget, then the region’s powers to appoint judges were interfered with and now they are plotting a move against the elected assembly and government of the people.

Published in Dawn, September 20th, 2022