Awami Action Committee Gilgit-Baltistan challenges imposition of section 144
Our Correspondent
Gilgit, April 12: Awami Action Committee, an alliance of around 23 religious, progressive and nationalistic political groups, has decided to challenge the imposition of section 144 by the Gilgit-Baltistan adminisration in the court.
The decision was announced today by Advocate Eshan Ali, who is also Convenor of the Awami Action Committee. He said that the imposition of the section 144 is an effort to cripple the rights of the people and to press them into silence. He said that banning political processions and gatherings is tantamount to revoking of fundamental human rights.
The Civil Court has summoned administration officials to the court on Monday, the 14th of April.
It is pertinent to note that the Awami Action Committee plans to hold a massive strike across Gilgit-Baltistan on the 15th of April to press the government and administration to accept a nine-point charter of demands.
A mammoth wheel-jam and shutter-down strike had successfully been organized by the Awami Action Committee on the 10th of March, bringing life to a standstill in all seven districts of the Gilgit-Baltistan region.
The charter of demands includes restoration of subsidy on wheat price, abolition of fees being charged in hospitals, bringing an end to load-shedding and resolving the issues being faced by the affectees of Diamer-Bhasha dam project, among other demands.
The administration last week also requested the federal government to send five additional platoons of the Frontier Constabulary (FC) to the region. This move was largely seen as an effort to intimidate the leaders of the Awami Action Committee and their supporters.
