New Delhi
4 April 2007
An International Crisis Group report has criticised Pakistan for denying
"basic rights and political freedoms" to Northern Areas with the intention of furthering "multiple
goals, domestic and external".
The report, which says that the constitutional status of Northern Areas remains undetermined
since Islamabad sees it as "a bargaining chip in its rivalry with India over Kashmir", suggests
Pakistan President General Pervez Musharraf to implement the recommendations of the
Supreme Court’s landmark verdict in 1999 to extend fundamental freedoms to the Northern
Areas or to let a democratically-elected government in Islamabad do it.
The ICG’s report, titled "Discord in Pakistan’s Northern Areas", echoes the criticism of Pakistan
by the international community. The European Parliament has observed the lack of democratic
freedoms in Northern Areas (Gilgit and Baltistan) and the Commonwealth has reiterated its
demand that General Musharraf must choose between the posts of President or army chief.
A former foreign minister of Australia, Mr Gareth Evans, is president of the Brussels-based
International Crisis Group. A former European Commissioner for External Relations, Mr
Christopher Patten, of the United Kingdom and Mr Thomas Pickering, a former United States
ambassador to India are the co-chairs. A former prime minister, Mr IK Gujral, is a senior adviser
of the International Crisis Group. A former ambassador to the US, Mr Naresh Chandra, is a
member of the ICG’s executive committee.
The report reads, "By depriving elected institutions of even a modicum of authority and
marginalising moderate political forces, Islamabad has empowered sectarian groups and
allowed them to secure a firm foothold in the region . Under President and Army Chief Pervez
Musharraf, the military has retained its alliance with Sunni Islamists for multiple goals,
domestic and external, further weakening moderate forces in a region where religious
extremism was once unknown."
The ICG feels that Islamabad should implement the recommendations of Pakistan’s Supreme
Court and extend basic rights and political freedoms to the Northern Areas but acknowledges
that for that to happen, Pakistan itself must have a democratic dispensation. It says,
"Democratically-elected governments in Islamabad have initiated whatever political
development has taken place in the Northern Areas. At least until there is again such a
government, Islamabad will resist devolving any meaningful power to a region that is perceived
as a bargaining chip in its rivalry with India over Kashmir."
"The constitutional status of Gilgit and Baltistan remains undetermined, with political autonomy
a distant dream," says the report. "The region has been left in a constitutional limbo . Many
locals believe sectarian bias is behind the decision to maintain widely different political
arrangements to the Northern Areas and [Pakistan Occupied Kashmir.] Unlike [Pakistan
Occupied Kashmir], which, like Pakistan, has an overwhelming Sunni majority, the Northern
Areas are the only Shia-majority region under Pakistani control."
In another report, titled "Pakistan: Karachi’s Madrasas and Violent Extremism", the ICG says
Karachi’s madrasas have trained and dispatched jihadi fighters to Afghanistan and Jammu and
Kashmir and banned sectarian and jihadi groups, supported by networks of mosques and
madrasas, continue to operate openly in that city and elsewhere. It recommends Pakistan to
take disband private militias and sign the International Convention for the Suppression of the
Financing of Terrorism.
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