Muhammad Amir Rana, Mujtaba Rathore

(The Report is part of the PIPS comprehensive study on Northern Areas of Pakistan. For policy recommendations leading political, religious, constitutional, economic and social leaders and experts were consulted) 

Executive Summary

The Northern Areas of Pakistan are the northern most regions of the territory under Pakistani control. It is also known as Gilgit-Baltistan. Constitutionally under a Legal Framework Order, it is directly ruled from Islamabad through the Northern Areas Legislative Council which is convened only when Pakistan’s federal minister on Kashmir affairs calls it. India does not recognize the Northern Areas as part of Pakistan and calls it part of the Pakistan-administered Kashmir.
The story of the Northern Areas is the story of a deprived people who are struggling for their rights. To declare the Northern Areas as fifth province of Pakistan is the long standing demand of the people. Political parties are also demanding if the fifth province is not possible under the United Nations resolutions on Kashmir then government should give them the same constitutional status like Pakistani Kashmir. While some nationalist parties are struggling for independent state and they are also catching attraction of the people because of complex legal and constitutional situation of Northern Areas. 
Some residents of the Northern Areas filed a writ petition in the High Court of the Pakistan side of Kashmir under the Section 44 of the Interim Constitution of the Pakistani Kashmir. The petitioners claimed that they were the subjects of the Pakistan-administered Kashmir and invoked the writ jurisdiction of the Pakistan-administered Kashmir High Court. They contended that the Northern Areas were a part of the Pakistani Kashmir. The petition argued that even the Sino-Pakistan agreement of 1963 conceded this. The High Court decided that the Northern Areas are part of the Pakistani Kashmir. However, the Supreme Court said that the High Court had no jurisdiction to issue such a verdict. When al-Jihad Trust tried to invoke the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court of Pakistan, Pakistan said it had no jurisdiction over the Northern Areas territories.
There is no industry apart from tourism, which has badly suffered in the wake of the 9/11 events. It has a very low literacy rate: 14 percent for men and 3.5 for women. According to a survey, there were 674 educational institutions in the public sector in 1988. According to a survey, there were 522 primary schools; 337 for boys and 185 for girls, in 2002. There are some 38,000 students enrolled in these schools while there are 1,300 teachers in these primary schools. There are 86 middle schools (up to 8th grade), 75 for boys and 11 for girls, in Gilgit-Baltistan. There are only 57 high schools of which 49 are for boys and 8 for girls. There are 26,978 students in the high schools with only 690 teachers. There are only four high schools in the private sector of which three are for boys. There are 15,000 students and 80 teachers in these students. There is no primary school in hundreds of these villages. In remaining villages the schools face severe problems. There are no teachers in 20 percent of the schools. There is a shortage of teachers in hundreds of schools. Hundreds of schools do not have furniture and hundreds of school buildings are in very poor state.
There are only seven intermediate colleges, four for boys and three for girls, in the Northern Areas. There are only 1,820 students and 40 teachers in these colleges. All these colleges are affiliated with the Federal Board in Islamabad. There are only two degree colleges for boys. There are 1,500 students and 45 teachers. Recently, a degree college for women has come into being affiliated with the Punjab University. There is no medical or engineering college in the Northern Areas. Some 600 students go to Karachi and 300 to other cities of Pakistan. As compared to this, there are two universities and 75 colleges in the Pakistani side of Kashmir.
The Northern Areas are strategically very important. To the north is China, with Tajikistan towards the north-west, Afghanistan in the west and Pakistan-administered Kashmir in the east. In the past, Russia and Great Britain competed to gain control of these areas. Now this area is completely under the control of Pakistan although India still keeps an eye on these areas. The United States of America too is getting interested in the area. The Americans could be interested to monitor and block this route for the Chinese. There are reports of American agents working in these areas under the garb of research scholars. Pakistan, China and Kazakhstan have recently entered into an agreement to increase trade through the Karakoram highway.
There are eight major ethnic groups namely Baltis, Shinas, Yashkuns, Moghals, Kashmiries, Pathans, Ladakhis and Turks speaking the dialects of Balti, Brushaski, Khawer, Wakhi, Turki, Tibeti, Pushto, Urdu and Persian. The four major Muslim sects are the Shias, Sunnis, Ismailis and Nurbakhshies who for centuries lived in tolerance and harmony though over the past two decades there have been frequent cases of sectarian violence.

Policy Recommendations

1. The major political parties of Northern Areas, Pakistan People Party and Muslim League consider that a solution to long standing constitutional problem lies in declaring the areas as the fifth province of the Pakistan.
2. Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam and Jamaat-e-Islami demand that areas should given the status of a state like Pakistan-administered Kashmir. They think until the Kashmir dispute could not solved between India and Pakistan under the United Nations’ Security Council resolutions it is the best option, which can address the constitutional and administrative issue in the proper way and can reduce the grievances of the masses regarding marginalization.
3. The Nationalist parties like Balawaistan Nationalist Front are demanding a separate state and argue that these areas had enjoyed the status of independent state three times in the recent history. Nationalist forces are least agreed on semi-autonomous state under the Pakistan in which they have right to choose their representative and govern these areas.
Although there is an elected council already, which was formed in 1970 after the abolition of the traditional Miri and Rajgi systems and the Frontier Crimes Regulations, but this institution has failed to address the problem of the local people. The council is directly under the ministry of Kashmir affairs and has no rights for reformation in the political, administrative and judiciary system. The council cannot be effective until the constitutional status of the Northern Areas is not cleared.
There is need to introduce constitutional reforms while addressing the all three different point of views of the local political parties. The best possible solution is that Northern Areas should be given the autonomous status like Azad Kashmir while a difference Northern Areas Legislative Council should remain in practice with more authorities.

Recommendations

PIPS recommend that:

2. Judiciary

The people of Northern Areas are not satisfied with the existing judiciary system in enforcing fundamental rights. In this prospective some residents of the Northern Areas filed a writ petition in the High Court of the Pakistan-administered Kashmir and contended that the Northern Areas were a part of the Pakistani Kashmir. The High Court decided that the Northern Areas are part of the Pakistani Kashmir. However, the Supreme Court said that the High Court had no jurisdiction to issue such a verdict.
After these decisions government didn’t took any step to address the grievances of the local people regarding judiciary system.

Recommendation

3. Administration

The rule by Islamabad has made the public servants arrogant and inefficient and denies local people their basic rights to govern their own affairs. PIPS recommend that:

4. Law & Order and Security

1. Police in Northern Areas should be more effective and military and federal intelligence agencies should stop to use police’s powers.
2. Local people should be given preference in the recruitment of Northern Scouts and Frontier Constabulary as they know much about their respective local areas.
3. Sectarianism is a sensitive issue in Northern Areas, directly related to subject role, freedom of expression, political rights and mismanagement by the government department:
A) Government agencies should deal with the issue in a dialect way and no favor would be given to any specific sect.
B) Political and religious parties can play their role to bring the all sects on a peace agreement and government should take them in to confidence.
C) Security agencies should restrict the activities of the banned jihadist and sectarian groups in the area.
D) Freedom of expression and freedom for political activities are urgent need of the Northern Areas because under the censored and controlled politics people look to alternative ways for expressing their anger and reservations.
E) Subject role should enforce, which help to reduce activities of out side sectarian and jihadist organizations.