Gilgit-Baltistan is a part of Pakistan, Senate body told

ISLAMABAD: The Senate Standing Committee on Kashmir Affairs and Gilgit-Baltistan in its meeting on Wednesday was told that Gilgit-Baltistan is a part of Pakistan although the region is not a constitutional part of the country.
It was acknowledged that the undefined status of Gilgit Baltistan has always demoralised the people of this region. The meeting was held under the Chairmanship of Senator Sajjad Mir here at the Parliament House and was attended among others by Senator Raja Mohammad Zafarul Haq, Senator Hajji Momin Khan Afridi, Senator Najma Hamid, Senator Chaudhry Tanveer Khan, Senator Ahmed Hasan and Senator Abdul Rehman Malik.
The constitutional status of Gilgit Baltistan with reference to the recommendations of the committee headed by Sartaj Aziz was discussed in the meeting. The committee observed that the government hasn’t shared the report and if the report isn’t available, making recommendations is not possible.
The status of the report was stated as such that four meetings have taken place, which were headed by Sartaj Aziz, Chief Minister of Gilgit Baltistan, and Finance Minister of Kashmir Affairs, Chief Secretary of Gilgit Baltistan and 28 others attended the meeting.
The matters of inductions of employees for power projects, mode of sanction and creation of junior posts in Gilgit Baltistan and continuation of “dying cadre posts” were deferred as it will be discussed later.
The committee was told that construction of Gilgit, Shandoor Chitral road will cost of Rs1.30 billion. Another open channel will be completed by the end of December and new tourist’s destinations will also be constructed soon.
The panel was informed that promotion policy for civil servants of Gilgit Baltistan is adopted as per federal policy, civil servants are promoted on the completion of qualification and length of service.