GILGIT: Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi will arrive in Skardu today (Wednesday) on a one-day visit.

The visit was originally planned for Oct 23 but it was rescheduled to Oct 25 due to the prime minister’s tour to Turkey to attend the D-8 summit.

It will be Mr Abbasi’s be first visit to GB after assuming the prime minister’s office.

Official sources told Dawn that the prime minister would inaugurate the Baltistan University and Gilgit-Skardu Road expansion and repair project in Skardu.

They said Mr Abbasi would also preside over a meeting of the GB Council as its chairman in which the council’s budget for fiscal year 2017-18 would be approved.

The sources said the premier was also expected to approve the GB Mining Concessions Rules, 2016, and policy on the timber’s disposal in the region as the head of the GB Council.

They said the prime minister would also address a special ceremony to be attended by the ruling PML-N’s leaders, GB Chief Minister Hafeezur Rehman, ministers, Gilgit-Baltistan Legislative Assembly and GB Council members, and senior local officials.

He will highlight GB’s major issues and the PML-N government’s initiatives to address them.

Also in the day, the local PML-N leaders will present a charter of demands to the prime minister, especially about the constitutional status for the region, imposition of taxes on GB people after provision of constitutional rights, opening of Kargil-Skardu Road, execution of power projects in Baltistan to end outages, and protection of the local residents’ right to land.

The PML-N claims it has made the charter of demands in consultation with other political parties of the area.

Earlier, the Anjuman-i-Tajran Skardu had announced protest during the premier’s visit against the imposition of taxes on GB people without the determination of the region’s constitutional status.

However, they called off the protest after the local PML-N leaders promised to apprise the prime minister of that demand during the visit.

The Markazi Anjuman-i-Tajran Gilgit in consultation with opposition parties including PPP and PTI and trade unions have announced a wheel-jam and shutter-down strike will be observed in Gilgit today against the levy of taxes on GB people.

Published in Dawn, October 25th, 2017