PM Nawaz Sharif assures Gilgit-Baltistan govt of full support

Climbers of Everest pose with CM Gilgit-Baltistan and PM Nawaz Sharif

Our Correspondent

Isalmabad, June 20: The mandate given by the people of Gilgit-Baltistan will be respected and the current governance structure will be made successful. Full cooperation will be extended to the GB government for the region’s progress and welfare of the people.

These views were expressed by PM Nawaz Sharif today with Gilgit-Baltistan’s Chief Minister, Syed Mehdi Shah, at a meeting held in the federal capital.

During the meeting Mehdi Shah briefed the newly elected PM about the region’s myriad problems, including financial constraints and construction of different projects, including the Jaglote-Skardu road. Nawaz Sharif assured Mehdi Shah of his full support and said that measures will be taken to address the region’s problems.

He also agreed to visit Gilgit-Baltistan in the near future and address a joint session of the Gilgit-Baltistan Council and Gilgit-Baltistan Legislative Assembly.

Nawaz Sharif also said that CM Gilgit-Baltistan will accompany him on a visit to China in the near future.

The current political setup in Gilgit-Baltistan was promulgated by President Zardari, under a presidential order. The people in GB have been demanding of the federal government to provide constitutional backing to the governance structure by getting it endorsed by the parliament.

Other groups, mainly pro-Kashmir factions and nationalist parties, consider the “Gilgit-Baltistan Self-Governance and Empowerment Package 2009” to be a “gimmick, staged to keep the people of GB deprived constitutionally.”

Syed Mehdi Shah was also accompanied by Samina Baig, the first Pakistani female conqueror of Mount Everest and her brother Mirza Ali.