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‘India has maintained that the Government of Pakistan or its judiciary has no locus standi on territories illegally and forcibly occupied by it. It is violation of India’s natural right over Gilgit-Baltistan region.’

Despite India’s strong opposition, the Ministry of Law and Justice of Pakistan has executed a Bill to provide the status of a full-fledged ‘Province’ to the disputed territory of Gilgit-Pakistan (GB).

This Bill titled as ‘26^th Constitutional Amendment Bill’ will grant the GB region Pakistan's constitutional rights, comprising representation in the upper and lower houses of the Pakistani parliament. A set of amendments would be introduced to give the region representation in Parliament, besides the establishment of the provincial assembly in the territory.

The proposed law suggests that GB region could be given provisional provincial status by amending Article 1 of the Constitution of Pakistan that relates to the provinces and territories.

Last year in November, the Pakistani Prime Minister officially announced his Government’s decision for the same and in July, 2021 he assigned the task of preparing the law to federal Law Minister Barrister Farogh Naseem.

Ignoring the Indian stand on the matter ‘that the entire union territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh, including the areas of Gilgit and Baltistan, are an integral part of Indian territories by virtue of its fully legal and irrevocable accession, the Pakistan Ministry has drafted the Bill.

“Under the proposed law by the Ministry of Law and Justice, the Supreme Appellate Court (SAC) of Gilgit-Baltistan may be abolished and the region's election commission is likely to be merged with the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP)”, media reports state.

The Backdrop of the Matter

Gilgit Baltistan is occupied by Pakistan and has been the subject of a dispute between India and Pakistan since 1947.

Gilgit Baltistan, formerly known as Northern Areas, was earlier governed, with only limited autonomy, by the "Gilgit-Baltistan Empowerment and Self-Governance Order of 2009", which established an electoral framework in the region. This means that the elections used to be held under the said order that provides for only limited autonomy.

Recently, Saudi Arabia removed the Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and Gilgit Baltistan from the country's map which triggered the Pak Government to take such illegal actions.

The area’s strategic importance for India has increased in light of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor agreement, under which Beijing is investing hugely to develop the area as part of its Belt and Road Initiative.