Pakistan to announce local govt for northern region

While India claims these areas to be part of Kashmir, Pakistan’s line is that the region was separated from Kashmir prior to the partition of the sub-continent.

Largely home to an Ismaili population, the area has been governed directly from Islamabad, through a chief executive, who reports to the Pakistan prime minister.

However, after a Supreme Court judgement that the area should be accorded self governance, the Nawaz Sharif government is planning on giving it an administrative set up that would allow local governance andan arrangement similar to the one being practices in Azad Kashmir, which has a prime minister and legislative assembly of its own.

Owing to resentment in the northern areas against rule from Islamabad, the populace has welcomed this step. “It is nothing short of a revolution,” says Ahmad Mustikhan, a political observer who watches developments in the region carefully.

The northern areas have witnessed several riots in the past few years over the mode of governance adopted by Islamabad. “We feel neglected. There are no basic rights available to the people here,” said one Gilgit local. Now all that is scheduled to change.

But some observers warn that this may lead to political and ethnic violence in the area prior to the local body elections as the region has become a hotbed for Sunni-Shia politics.

Gilgit is predominantly Sunni while the Nagar is largely Shia. The Northern Light Infantry, which played an important role in Kargil earlier this year, is based in the northern areas and most of itsmembers are drawn from this region.

Some commentators say that this may be another reason for the move to give more autonomy to the area. “We want to give all right guaranteed by the constitution to the people of these areas,” an official said in Islamabad.