Gilgit Court Orders Pak Minister To Leave Region

The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government’s federal ministers and officials on Friday were ordered by the Gilgit-Baltistan Chief Court to leave the region in the next three days ahead of the upcoming elections.

A two-member bench comprising of Justice Malik Haq Nawaz and Justice Ali Baig had announced the verdict on a writ petition filed over violation of the code of conduct ahead of the upcoming polls, reported The News.

The court further directed Gilgit-Baltistan’s Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Raja Shahbaz Khan, Chief Minister, and Chief Secretary to implement the decision immediately.

Earlier, Pakistan Peoples’ Party (PPP) leader Sherry Rehman had alleged that Prime Minister Imran Khan and his federal ministers had violated the electoral code of conduct by running political campaigns and urged the CEC to take notice.

“The prime minister and a federal minister are running the campaign of their party illegally in Gilgit-Baltistan, which is a clear violation of the code of conduct of the elections and a pre-polling rigging,” The News quoted Rehman.

PPP had also submitted a complaint letter to Gilgit-Baltistan’s CEC accusing Federal Minister of Kashmir Affairs and Gilgit-Baltistan Ali Amin Gandapur for allegedly violating the electoral code of conduct by campaigning in the elections for the PTI.

Meanwhile, the people across Gilgit-Baltistan are up in arms against Islamabad’s decision of integrating the illegally occupied region with the rest of Pakistan.

In the run-up to the assembly elections in this so-called autonomous region, Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan recently announced that the region will become a provisional province of Pakistan–a declaration that has drawn massive condemnation.

Activists wonder as to how an occupying state which has no locus standi over the region can take a call of subsuming it with the rest of Pakistan. (ANI)