Gilgit-Baltistan polls are not will of people but of Islamabad

By Rahul Kumar and Arijit Banerjee New Delhi, Nov 14 : When Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan announced on November 1 that Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) would formally be absorbed as Pakistans fifth province, he put global spotlight on a region which his country had taken through bloodshed from the Maharaja of Kashmir in 1947.
On Sunday, the region will witness elections for which Pakistan’s national political parties — the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), and the opposition Pakistan Peoples’ Party (PPP) and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) — are canvassing furiously.
The locals are, however, not enthusiastic about the elections as they know that ultimately it is the will of Islamabad that prevails. The three national parties have promised to provide full constitutional representation to GB, a sentimental demand among the locals which they have been asking for decades.
In a wide-ranging interview to IndiaNarrative.com, Mumtaz Khan, president of the Canada-based International Centre for Peace and Democracy, said that Pakistan might be holding elections, but it has a dubious relationship with democracy.
Khan said: “There is a history of elections in Pakistan. It has been seen that whichever party is in the power in Islamabad, that party forms the government in GB. It is not the will of the people of GB as elections are largely manipulated from Islamabad.” It is common knowledge that the parties which form government in the disputed region of GB are the main political parties from Islamabad. What is also common knowledge is that political parties cannot win the elections not just in GB but also in Pakistan unless these have the blessings of the powerful military, also called “the establishment.”