KL NEWS NETWORK
SRINAGAR
Terming the Gilgit-Baltistan as integral part of Jammu and Kashmir, Chairperson All Parties Hurriyat Conference (g) Syed Ali Geelani Wednesday said that the Pak-China economic corridor will definitely boost the economic condition of this region but merging Gilgit-Baltistan in Pakistan for this purpose “is not necessary”.
He said that the resolutions of UNCIP do not have any such provision which could hinder the development process in Gilgit-Baltistan.
In a written letter to the Pakistan Prime Minister Mian Mohammad Nawaz Sharif, Geelani said that the merger of Gilgit-Baltistan in Pakistan “will prove a disaster for the disputed nature of Jammu and Kashmir and this act will impact the disputed status of this region”.
“Ending the international constitutional status of the state will end the Kashmir issue and it will create doubts in the minds of common people of the state,” he writes in the letter.
Geelani in his letter reminds the Pakistan Prime Minister of his speech which he had delivered in UN general assembly and in which he had advocated the Right to Self Determination demand of the Kashmiri nation, withdrawal of armed forces and holding of referendum in the state and had criticized the UNO for failing to implement its resolutions and ending the human rights violations in Kashmir.
The pro-freedom leader said, “the government of Pakistan should concentrate over the citizen rights, development and prosperity of the people of Gilgit-Baltistan and should address their issues. The people of Gilgit-Baltistan could have some genuine grievances and by addressing those complaints, Pakistan can restore their trust and their affiliation with the Pakistan.”
Geelani further writes in his letter that the entire Jammu & Kashmir including Gilgit-Baltistan is a dispute according to the UNO resolutions.
“India by holding elections and forming Assembly in 1957 unilaterally tried to change the status of the one part of the state but by adopting the resolution Number 122, the United Nations Security Council rejected the constitutional and legal status of this move,” he said.
“My health is not keeping well since last few days and the doctors have advised me for complete rest but I am writing these few lines despite being in bed because the reports about the Gilgit-Baltistan have made me uneasy and this forced me to pick up the pen,” he writes.
