AMID the disquieting news from elsewhere in the country, there is a glimmer of hope in the form of the Gilgit-Baltistan Legislative Assembly elections scheduled for tomorrow. Twenty-three seats will be contested in the new-look assembly following the federal government's Gilgit-Baltistan Empowerment and Self-Governance Order, and the contests have attracted an impressive array of national political leaders who have gone to the area to campaign for their local candidates. Despite the push by national parties, local politics and personalities are expected to play an influential role in the elections and therefore it is difficult to predict the results. Having said that, the PPP and the PML-N (and its rump, the PML-Q) have traditionally been the dominant players and that pattern is expected to continue. The PPP will likely be boosted by the Self-Governance Order and the usual ploy of doling out state patronage in the run-up to elections. The MQM is a new player in the area and may pick up a couple of seats on the back of enticements offered to Baltistanis living in Karachi. Many, if not most, Pakistanis will be unaware of the steadily growing influence of religious extremism in the area and one positive of the high-profile campaigning by mainstream political parties may be that the space gained by extremists will be gradually rolled back.

The elections, though, will be no panacea. The usual campaign promises have been made by candidates, but the socio-economic problems are serious. For example, Gilgit city has no sewerage system or major hospital, issues that have not drawn the attention of candidates. Meanwhile, in the Ghanche district of Baltistan, a major demand of the people is the re-opening of the Kargil-Ladakh route so that families separated by the LoC can reunite or meet again, but candidates have shied away from the issue. Additionally, the federally dominated Gilgit-Baltistan Council is expected to wield the real power and the Self-Governance Order is a halfway house between local governance and full-fledged constitutional and provincial status. Still, the elections are a start and a much-needed fillip in a country reeling from dismal news.