Justice in GB

The honourable Chief Justice of Pakistan Mian Saqib Nisar’s visit to Gilgit-Baltistan may lead to some hope in the case of Baba Jan, an environmental rights’ activist in Gilgit-Baltistan who has been unjustly convicted under terrorism charges. On Tuesday, CJ Nisar stopped his convoy to meet the mother and relatives of Baba Jan who were holding placards along the Karakoram Highway. Baba Jan’s brother handed over a letter asking the CJ’s intervention in the case of Baba Jan and other progressive activists in the region who have been handed life sentences by an anti-terrorism court. The case of Baba Jan is one of clear injustice and victimisation of a well-known activist. Jan was charged with participating in rioting after two people asking for compensation for the Attabad Lake disaster of 2010 were killed by the police. Over 100 people were arrested after the rioting with most released given that evidence remained flimsy at best. Jan has contested that he was never part of the rioting and that the charges are trumped up as part of a larger crackdown on progressive voices in Gilgit-Baltistan. Jan has remained popular in GB after he contested the GB Legislative Assembly elections from jail in 2015, when he was able to take the second position after an energetic election campaign led by the youth of Hunza.

Baba Jan’s case has captured the feeling of alienation felt by GB’s youth, which has rallied around him as a figure that represents their plight. GB has erupted in protest a number of times over the last decade over a range of issues, including environmental issues, subsidies and autonomy. As the region has started to find its political voice, it has unsettled many in our power corridors who had previously been able to govern the region without considering the voice of the people of GB. There is need for a larger recognition that there will be no return to the status quo possible in the Gilgit-Baltistan region. A new consensus will need to be found in which the people of GB define their own needs and their own future – like other provinces. This will require activists like Baba Jan to be able to freely represent the voice of their people. Mainstream political parties suffer themselves when they ignore the issue of justice for activists from smaller regions. The PML-N is now finding that its own activists are facing terrorism charges for merely participating in political activities. There is a larger need for both legal reform and a change in attitudes. Political protest cannot be treated as anti-state, and must be dealt with via political means. Chief Justice Nisar has promised ‘justice’ for Baba Jan, while also promising to address issues of compensation for those affected by the Daimer-Bhasha Dam. We hope that the honourable chief justice will be able to take up these important issues and set the trajectory for a different course for the future.