Eyes on another Hunza seat
Akhtar Jamil
The appointment of Mir Ghazanfar Ali Khan as Governor of Gilgit-Baltistan has created yet another opportunity for people of Hunza to elect their own representative in the legislative assembly of Gilgit-Baltastan (GBLA), which is scheduled on 28 of this month. The power hungry royal family of Hunza, which has already bagged two elite positions of Governor (Mir Ghazanfar Ali Khan) and Technocrat (his wife Rani Atiqa Ghazanfar), is looking forward to grab another seat in the GB assembly in this upcoming election.
Hunza is comparatively by far better than other regions in GB in terms of education, however, it will be surprising to notice that these educated people are far less politically mature than people of other regions in whole GB. One might argue to my opinion, yet I have some facts to share.
Geographically and linguistically, Hunza has three main regions, namely Gojal, Central and Lower (Shinaki) Hunza. The most ideal situation would be to have even distribution of political power in all three regions of Hunza. For example, if Governor is from central Huzna, then members of technocrat and elected seats should be from either of the remaining regions. This will be beneficial for whole Hunza in terms of power sharing and economy. On contrary to this, the Royal family has two crucial positions in their hands and yet hunting for another one. Surprisingly, people are advocating Mir family in their election campaign without even thinking for a minute that why political power should be localized to Royal family of Hunza only. Does that mean that other well educated people are ineligible for becoming leaders? Or they don’t have the skills as the members of the Royal class?
Elected members should remain close to their voters all day and night after elections. On contrary, the Royal Highnesses can only be seen either before elections or during summer only in Hunza. This means, if you face an issue in winter, then either you have to fly to Islamabad to meet your elected member or wait till the next summer.
Democracy gives every member freedom to elect person of their choice. However, great care must be taken before casting vote because one’s vote can affect the life of many in the region. My personal opinion is to give preference to education over class. I wish all the best to all candidates.
The contributor is a PhD scholar based abroad. His field of interest is computing and technology. However, he like to write on various issues related to his country and region. He can be contacted at : akh.jam@gmail.com
Dear Akhtar Jamil let us clarify this is your opinion based out of Pakistan let alone Hunza. Should we say to obtain your opinion next time one has to call abroad?
Speaking of the Royal family, the Mir has come into the democratic process, contested and won. Had it been Monarchy I would have agreed on your point of class system. It is easy to criticize than to realise that it is this very Royal family that has brought Hunza till this point. Let our mindset be mature to understand who did what rather than assume. Trust me Mir is the pride of Hunza and the day he is gone you will see the area step backwards.
The extra seat we speak of is up for grabs, despite the 2 seats I still think the 3rd should go in the same household so people of Hunza have a one-stop shop rather than going to Gojal to submit their issues. This is my 2 cents worth of a personal opinion. Long live the King for he knows better