Gilgit-Baltistan boils in anger against Pakistan
The educated youth and the pro-active civil society of Gilgit-Baltistan (G-B)—a region claimed by Pakistan as its own—along with the political class there are protesting the levying of “illegal” taxes on them by the Pakistani authorities, apart from demanding constitutional rights at par with the rest of Pakistan. The region has been witnessing large- scale protests, with complete shutters-down in marketplaces for the past one month. Dr Muhammad Zaman, who is a prominent voice of the Awami Action Committee (AAC), an alliance of 23 religious, progressive and nationalistic political groups with considerable influence in all of Gilgit-Baltistan’s 10 districts told The Sunday Guardian, “We are simply saying ‘no taxation without representation’. Why should we pay tax when we are not getting any facilities from the government? Pakistan is acting like a parasite, exploiting our region but not extending any facilities. Those who protest are put in prison. Pakistan has neither accepted us, nor rejected us, unlike India, which has given Jammu and Kashmir special status under Article 370. I was put in prison and I had to leave the country after being released. But we are not going to bow down in front of the government. Unless and until we are treated as equal and are extended facilities like all other regions, we are not going to pay taxes,” Zaman said.
According to him, to paint a rosy picture to the international media, the Pakistan government has made Barjees Tahir as the federal minister responsible for the people of G-B. “However, he is a puppet and is least concerned about what we need and what the people are going through,” he said.
After the protests, the Gilgit-Baltistan government announced the withdrawal of the local taxes. However, the protesters stated that they were still sceptical of the government unless it amended the income tax adaptation act 2012, under which the taxes were imposed. One of the ACC leaders told this newspaper that since Prince Agha Karim Khan, the 49th Imam of Shia Ismaili Muslims is currently touring GilgitBaltistanB, the protests have been scaled down but will resume soon.
The vice president of ACC, Fida Hussain, while speaking to The Sunday Guardian said that the protests would resume from 12 December. “The people will not accept this taxation system. We are not scared of going to prison. We are fighting for the common people. The Pakistani government cannot just pass an order saying that we will have to pay the same tax, which is applicable to the entire country. We cannot be bought or made to bend,” he said.
Fida Balghari, who heads the ACC in Ganache district of Baltistan, told The Sunday Guardian that the news of the dispute being “resolved” was wrong: “The protests will go on as we have only been given a lollipop by the Pakistan government and no concrete assurance has been given that they will reconsider their decision to impose the tax on us.” With an estimated population of 2 million across 72,000 square km of territory, GilgitBaltistan’s legal identity and constitutional status have been disputed ever since the India-Pakistan partition of 1947. The area is currently under the occupation of Pakistan, in violation of the United Nations Commission for India and Pakistan (UNCIP) resolution of 28 April 1949. Treating Gilgit-Baltistan as its annexed territory, Pakistan has introduced several administrative