13.8.19

Pakistan: Double Standards Exposed

Pakistan, which is trying to internationalise Jammu and Kashmir’s bifurcation, has ironically taken several steps over the past 70 years to re-organise a part of the territory of Jammu and Kashmir that it has illegally occupied since 1949.

In 1949, two years after illegally occupying a part of the state, Pakistan divided the area into separate administrative zones, the so-called ‘Azad Jammu and Kashmir’ and ‘Federally Administered Northern Areas’.

In 1969, Pakistan created an ‘Advisory Council’ for the ‘Federally Administered Northern Areas’. In 1994, the ‘Advisory Council’ was converted into the ‘Northern Areas Council’ under the Legal Framework Order. And, five years later, the ‘Northern Areas Council’ was renamed the ‘Northern Areas Legislative Council’ through the Legal Framework (Amendment) Order. This, in turn, was replaced by the Gilgit-Baltistan Empowerment and Self-Governance Order in 2009.

Through the order, Pakistan created a legislative assembly and a ‘Gilgit-Baltistan council’, one of the sources said. The order authorised the Pakistan PM to legislate on over 63 subjects and overrule any law passed by the Gilgit-Baltistan assembly. The final authority to amend the 2018 order was vested in the Pakistan President.

The State Subject Rule 1927, which was promulgated by the princely state of J&K, was abolished by Pakistan for the Gilgit-Baltistan region to let outsiders acquire land in the illegally occupied area. Similar actions were taken in ‘Azad Jammu and Kashmir’. Besides, it allowed Chinese investment in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.

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