New GB council members elected to coordinate with Pakistani govt on CPEC, other matters

Gilgit: Pakistan’s autonomous Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) has elected six members to a council, which coordinates between the administrative territory and Pakistan’s federal authorities on all the matters including the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).

GB is Pakistan’s only land link to China and is at the heart of the US $65 billion CPEC infrastructure development plan.

In the Friday’s elections, ruling Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf’s (PTI) Hashmatullah, Shabi-ul-Hassan, Ahmed Ali, Abdul Rehman and Ayub Shah, and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) backed Iqbal Naseer won the required five votes from members of the Gilgit-Baltistan Assembly through a show of hand.

“All 33 members of the GB Assembly participated in the voting process,” said Rahim Gul, the returning officer. “No vote was rejected.”

The Election Commission of Pakistan ;ECP) is expected to announce the officials results over the next two days.

“Pakistan’s officially recognized provinces don’t have such councils since they operate within the country’s constitution and have representation in the National Assembly and Senate,” says Advocate Nazir Ahmed, deputy speaker of the Gilgit-Baltistan Assembly. “That’s not the case with Gilgit-Baltistan since the region doesn’t fall within Pakistan’s constitutional domain.”

Established in 2009 through the Gilgit-Baltistan Empowerment and Self-Governance Order, the council was created to run the affairs of the region.

In 2018, the self-governance order was replaced by Gilgit-Baltistan Order, shifting all powers exercised by the council to the Gilgit-Baltistan Assembly.

“It (the council) used to have legislative, administrative and financial powers before the Gilgit-Baltistan Order, 2018,” Ahmed said. “Now, it has an advisory role.”