Govt urged to mainstream GB

ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan Ali Amin Gandapur said Friday that the PTI government would bring about a real change in life of devoted people of the region of Gilgit-Baltistan. He said this while talking to a delegation of Majlis-Wahdat-e-Muslimeen led by Secretary General Allama Raja Nasir Abbas Jaffary. Allama Nasir emphasised that people of Gilgit-Baltistan should be brought in the mainstream on the pattern of the erstwhile Fata.

The MWM leader contended that the federal government should play its role in alleviating sufferings and deprivations of the people of the region, who had suffered a lot at the hands of past governments over the years, who had totally ignored them and this added to their despondency.

It was high time, he argued, that the people of this region, who are a natural defence line of Pakistan, be mainstreamed by giving them due rights and that they had right over their resources as per the Constitution. He said that by focusing on tourism, natural resource and hyrdo-power projects, not only the local people’s life could be changed but also this would help address Pakistan’s economic problems. Allama Nasir urged the federal government to save the people of the region from excesses of the PML-N government there, as dozens of prominent local personalities were being harassed under the pretext of Section 4. “The Centre should take notice of these illegal and constitutional measures,” he emphasised.

On this occasion, he also proposed that the federal government should also take viewpoint of the locals, who had been waging a long-drawn struggle for their rights while taking any decision on the fate of Gilgit-Baltistan and don’t let the nefarious designs of the enemy to materialise.

The minister assured the delegation that the PTI government was serious in giving due rights to Gilgit-Baltistan and in this connection, a good news would be shared with them very soon, saying the sacrifices of the local people and their devotion towards Pakistan would not be ignored. The two sides also discussed the recovery of the land of Kotla Imam Hussain(a.s).