Pakistan's decision to hold elections in Gilgit-Baltistan is illegal: Amjad Ayub Mirza

New Delhi: Politicians and human rights activists from Gilgit-Baltistan and Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK) have termed Pakistan's move to hold elections as illegal and unconstitutional while urging people to boycott it. A seven-member bench of Pakistan Supreme Court recently allowed the Imran Khan government's plea to amend the Gilgit Baltistan order 2018 to conduct the general elections this year.

"Under the present circumstances, there can be no free and fair elections in Pakistani occupied Gilgit-Baltistan. Unless the colonial order Schedule 4 and Anti-Terrorism Act are abolished and our political prisoners are released, the people of Gilgit Baltistan should boycott any such activity that is sponsored by Pakistan," Amjad Ayub Mirza, a rights activist from Mirpur of PoJK and now settled based in the UK, toll Zee Media.

The Indian government has already lodged a strong protest with Pakistan against the Pak SC order on "Gilgit-Baltistan”.

In a statement, India's MEA said, "It was clearly conveyed that the entire Union Territories of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh, including the areas of Gilgit and Baltistan, are an integral part of India by virtue of its fully legal and irrevocable accession. The Government of Pakistan or its judiciary has no locus standi on territories illegally and forcibly occupied by it."

"India completely rejects such actions and continued attempts to bring material changes in Pakistan occupied areas of the Indian territory of Jammu & Kashmir. Instead, Pakistan should immediately vacate all areas under its illegal occupation," it added.

The Pak government has banned many groups who are vocal against its atrocities in PoJK and other parts of Pakistan. The groups like the Jeay Sindh Qaumi Mahaz (JSQM), Sindhudesh Revolutionary Army (SRA), and Sindhudesh Liberation Army (SLA) have been banned under the Anti-Terrorism Act of 1997. 

These groups are fighting for historical, political, economic, and human rights of Sindhi people and have been victims of the state human rights violations, according to the World Sindhi Congress.

On May 8, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) also predicted a thunderstorm accompanied by lightning and gusty winds (speed reaching 30-40 kmph) at isolated places over Jammu & Kashmir, Ladakh, and Gilgit-Baltistan and Muzaffarabad in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) in the next 24 hours.

The IMD has now included this addition in the Jammu and Kashmir meteorological subdivisions. The move came after the Pakistan Supreme court's decision to allow Islamabad to hold elections in Gilgit-Baltistan.