ISLAMABAD: President Mamnoon Hussain has appointed Federal Minister for Kashmir Affairs Chaudhry Mohammad Barjees Tahir as governor of Gilgit-Baltistan (GB), a move that is expected to stir up controversy in the run-up to the coming council elections.

“On a summary initiated by the Ministry of Kashmir Affairs and Gilgit-Baltistan, the president has approved the prime minister’s advice to appoint Chaudhry Barjees Tahir, Federal Minister for Kashmir Affairs and Gilgit-Baltistan, as governor of Gilgit-Baltistan on ex-officio basis and signed the ‘Commission of Appointment’ in his favour,” said an official announcement by the Presidency on Saturday.

The new governor has been appointed at a time when two major opposition parties — the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) — have been alleging that the federal government is trying to rig the GB elections.

PPP’s concerns: Earlier in the day, a delegation from the PPP’s GB chapter, led by former chief minister Syed Mehdi Shah, called on the party co-chairman and former president Asif Ali Zardari.

Talking to Dawn, PPP Senator Farhatullah Babar said the delegates discussed the coming elections and expressed reservations over the recent changes made by the federal government in the GB Empowerment Order 2009.

Mr Babar, who is also the official spokesman for Mr Zardari, said the PPP GB members had told the co-chairman about the federal government’s alleged plan to manipulate and rig the elections in GB through the “arbitrary appointment of a 12-member caretaker cabinet and the latest move, paving the way for appointing the federal minister for Kashmir affairs as governor, in gross violation of the region’s autonomy”.

Such steps, he added, raised doubts over the fairness of the coming polls.

“Issues relating to the setting up of economic zones in Gilgit-Baltistan, as part of the Pakistan-China Economic Corridor, were also discussed during the meeting,” he said.

Responding to the points raised by the members, Mr Zardari assured them the PPP would not allow any attempt to undermine the region’s autonomy. He said the party would take up these issues with the government to redress the grievances of the people of GB.

Mr Babar said that Mr Zardari had appointed a seven-member committee to oversee matters relating to the GB elections, including the awarding of party tickets and keeping an eye on the fairness of electoral process.

Headed by former prime minister Raja Pervez Ashraf, the committee would consist of Opposition Leader in the National Assembly Syed Khurshid Shah, Qamar Zaman Kaira, Afzal Nadeem Chan and three members to be proposed by Syed Mehdi Shah, the president of the party’s GB chapter.

PTI raises doubts: Speaking at a news conference earlier in the day, PTI’s chief coordinator for GB Ghulam Sarwar Khan alleged that the federal government had already started pre-poll rigging in the elections, which are due to be held this year.

The PTI leader alleged that the PML-N loyalists and favourites were being appointed to all key positions, including that of the chief election commissioner, to rig the elections.

Mr Khan said his party would resist the government’s move to appoint the Kashmir Affairs minister as the new governor of the GB, adding that PTI chairman Imran Khan would visit the province in April.

Mr Khan, who had also challenged the appointment of chief election commissioner for GB in the Supreme Court, said the rulers had not learnt any lesson from the history and always made changes in the laws and rules for personal gains. He said the PML-N government had not only appointed a controversial person as the election commissioner, but it had violated the laws and constitution by appointing more than three caretaker cabinet members.

The PTI leader threatened to launch street agitation if the government continued to influence the GB elections through controversial and illegal appointments.

The Gilgit–Baltistan Legislative Assembly is a 33-seat unicameral legislative body that was formed as part of the Gilgit–Baltistan Empowerment and Self-Governance Order, 2009 during the previous PPP regime.

The order grants the region self-rule and an elected legislative assembly. Prior to this, the region had been ruled directly from Islamabad.

Published in Dawn, February 15th, 2015

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