<p style=”margin-bottom:13px”><span style=”font-size:11pt”><span style=”line-height:115%”><span style=”font-family:Calibri,sans-serif”><b><span style=”font-size:12.0pt”><span style=”line-height:115%”><span style=”font-family:"Cambria","serif"”>GS PAPER – 2</span></span></span></b></span></span></span></p>
<p style=”margin-bottom:13px”><span style=”font-size:11pt”><span style=”line-height:115%”><span style=”font-family:Calibri,sans-serif”><b><span style=”font-size:12.0pt”><span style=”line-height:115%”><span style=”font-family:"Cambria","serif"”>Context</span></span></span></b></span></span></span></p>
<p style=”margin-bottom:13px”><span style=”font-size:11pt”><span style=”line-height:115%”><span style=”font-family:Calibri,sans-serif”><span style=”font-size:12.0pt”><span style=”line-height:115%”><span style=”font-family:"Cambria","serif"”>Pakistan has recently announced to give it “Provisional Provincial Status”. After finalization it will 6th state of Pakistan.</span></span></span></span></span></span></p>
<p style=”text-align:center”><img alt=”” src=”https://i.filecdn.in/476edenias/freesnippingtool-com_capture_20201105114218-1604556998251.png” /></p>
<p style=”margin-bottom:13px”><span style=”font-size:11pt”><span style=”line-height:115%”><span style=”font-family:Calibri,sans-serif”><b><span style=”font-size:12.0pt”><span style=”line-height:115%”><span style=”font-family:"Cambria","serif"”>Why separate status?</span></span></span></b></span></span></span></p>
<p style=”margin-bottom:13px”><span style=”font-size:11pt”><span style=”line-height:115%”><span style=”font-family:Calibri,sans-serif”><span style=”font-size:12.0pt”><span style=”line-height:115%”><span style=”font-family:"Cambria","serif"”>On November 1 1947, after J&K ruler Hari Singh had signed the Instrument of Accession with India, and the Indian Army had landed in the Valley to drive out tribal invaders from Pakistan, there was a rebellion against Hari Singh in Gilgit.</span></span></span></span></span></span></p>
<p style=”margin-bottom:13px”><span style=”font-size:11pt”><span style=”line-height:115%”><span style=”font-family:Calibri,sans-serif”><b><span style=”font-size:12.0pt”><span style=”line-height:115%”><span style=”font-family:"Cambria","serif"”>Gilgit had been leased to the British by Hari Singh in 1935. The British returned it in August 1947.</span></span></span></b></span></span></span></p>
<p style=”margin-bottom:13px”><span style=”font-size:11pt”><span style=”line-height:115%”><span style=”font-family:Calibri,sans-serif”><b><span style=”font-size:12.0pt”><span style=”line-height:115%”><span style=”font-family:"Cambria","serif"”>Hari Singh sent his representative, Brigadier Ghansar Singh, as Governor, and Major William AlexanderBrown to take charge of the Gilgit Scouts.</span></span></span></b></span></span></span></p>
<p style=”margin-bottom:13px”><span style=”font-size:11pt”><span style=”line-height:115%”><span style=”font-family:Calibri,sans-serif”><b><span style=”font-size:12.0pt”><span style=”line-height:115%”><span style=”font-family:"Cambria","serif"”>After taking protective custody of the Governor on November 1, Brown would raise the Pakistani flag at his headquarters. Later the Gilgit Scouts managed to bring Baltistan under their control.</span></span></span></b></span></span></span></p>
<p style=”margin-bottom:13px”><span style=”font-size:11pt”><span style=”line-height:115%”><span style=”font-family:Calibri,sans-serif”><span style=”font-size:12.0pt”><span style=”line-height:115%”><span style=”font-family:"Cambria","serif"”>Pakistan did not accept G-B’s accession although it took administrative control of the territory.</span></span></span></span></span></span></p>
<p style=”margin-bottom:13px”><span style=”font-size:11pt”><span style=”line-height:115%”><span style=”font-family:Calibri,sans-serif”><span style=”font-size:12.0pt”><span style=”line-height:115%”><span style=”font-family:"Cambria","serif"”>After India went to the UN and a series of resolutions were passedPakistan believed that neither G-B nor PoK should be annexed to Pakistan, as this could undermine the international case for a plebiscite in Kashmir.</span></span></span></span></span></span></p>
<p style=”margin-bottom:13px”><span style=”font-size:11pt”><span style=”line-height:115%”><span style=”font-family:Calibri,sans-serif”><span style=”font-size:12.0pt”><span style=”line-height:115%”><span style=”font-family:"Cambria","serif"”>It also reckons that in the event a plebiscite ever takes place in Kashmir, votes in G-B will be important too.This is why it is only being called “provisional” provincial status.</span></span></span></span></span></span></p>
<p style=”margin-bottom:13px”><span style=”font-size:11pt”><span style=”line-height:115%”><span style=”font-family:Calibri,sans-serif”><b><span style=”font-size:12.0pt”><span style=”line-height:115%”><span style=”font-family:"Cambria","serif"”>Current Status</span></span></span></b></span></span></span></p>
<p style=”margin-bottom:13px”><span style=”font-size:11pt”><span style=”line-height:115%”><span style=”font-family:Calibri,sans-serif”><span style=”font-size:12.0pt”><span style=”line-height:115%”><span style=”font-family:"Cambria","serif"”>Pakistan, links G-B’s fate to that of Kashmir, but its administrative arrangements are different from those in PoK.While PoK has its own Constitution that sets out its powers and their limits vis-à-vis Pakistan, G-B has been ruled mostly by executive fiat.</span></span></span></span></span></span></p>
<p style=”margin-bottom:13px”><span style=”font-size:11pt”><span style=”line-height:115%”><span style=”font-family:Calibri,sans-serif”><span style=”font-size:12.0pt”><span style=”line-height:115%”><span style=”font-family:"Cambria","serif"”>Until 2009, the region was simply called Northern Areas. It got its present name only with the Gilgit-Baltistan (Empowerment and Self-Governance) Order, 2009, which replaced the Northern Areas Legislative Council with the Legislative Assembly</span></span></span></span></span></span></p>
<p style=”margin-bottom:13px”><span style=”font-size:11pt”><span style=”line-height:115%”><span style=”font-family:Calibri,sans-serif”><span style=”font-size:12.0pt”><span style=”line-height:115%”><span style=”font-family:"Cambria","serif"”>In 2018, the then PML(N) government passed an order centralising even the limited powers granted to the Assembly, a move linked to the need for greater control over land and other resources for the infrastructure projects then being planned under CPEC. The order was challenged, and in 2019, the Pakistan Supreme Court repealed it and asked the Imran Khan government to replace it with governance reforms. This was not done. Meanwhile, the Supreme Court extended it jurisdiction to G-B, and made arrangements for a caretaker government until the next Legislative Assembly elections.</span></span></span></span></span></span></p>
<p style=”margin-bottom:13px”><span style=”font-size:11pt”><span style=”line-height:115%”><span style=”font-family:Calibri,sans-serif”><b><span style=”font-size:12.0pt”><span style=”line-height:115%”><span style=”font-family:"Cambria","serif"”>Conclusion</span></span></span></b></span></span></span></p>
<p style=”margin-bottom:13px”><span style=”font-size:11pt”><span style=”line-height:115%”><span style=”font-family:Calibri,sans-serif”><span style=”font-size:12.0pt”><span style=”line-height:115%”><span style=”font-family:"Cambria","serif"”>The plan to grant G-B provincial status gathered speed over the last one year. While some commentary links it to CPEC and Chinese interest, others in Pakistan say the push might have well come from India’s reassertion of its claims after the August 5, 2019 reorgansiation of Jammu & Kashmir.</span></span></span></span></span></span></p>
<p style=”margin-bottom:13px”><span style=”font-size:11pt”><span style=”line-height:115%”><span style=”font-family:Calibri,sans-serif”><b><span style=”font-size:12.0pt”><span style=”line-height:115%”><span style=”font-family:"Cambria","serif"”>Source: Indian Express</span></span></span></b></span></span></span></p>