Acute wheat flour and electricity crisis grips Gilgit Baltistan

Gilgit-Baltistan [PoK], December 10 (ANI): The occupied region of Gilgit-Baltistan, which has been the victim of exploitation of its legitimate rights, natural resources, and land by successive Pakistani governments over the last decades, is virtually starving and shivering with unbearable cold because of acute shortage of wheat flour and power, according to new documents.

The puppet Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government led by Khalid Khurshid is behaving apathetically to the plight of people who are in desperate need of wheat and other food grains to survive, they claimed.

For the last few days, people were seen protesting and rallying against the PTI government’s indifferent attitude towards their demands, including the supply of wheat/wheat flour, end of load shedding and stoppage of land grabbing, the documents said.

Chief minister, ministers and lawmakers belonging to PTI are mostly unavailable as they spend most of their time in luxuries and squandering in Islamabad and Lahore besides serving their master Imran Khan, aggrieved people of GB complained, they said.

At the moment, worst kind of load shedding has further aggravated the situation, the papers stated, adding that in face of severe winter and flood devastations which rendered unaccountable people homeless and jobless, load shedding which continue for 22 hrs daily, local businesses and industry is almost destroyed.

Adding to their woe is rampant corruption and misuse of power by Punjabi bureaucrats. The people of the GB region are also concerned over land gabbing by the government and mafias operating on its behalf. The lands being grabbed are reportedly leased out to Chinese companies. GB youth are not getting jobs and unemployment is all-time high forcing many to commit suicide. Many youths have become psychic patients. Awami Action Committee during its convention recently urged the youth to get united and rise against the repression being inflicted on them. It stressed the need for snatching their rights and demanded that the revenue authority bill should be revoked ad 100 per cent land of GB should be made the property of GB people. All illegal leases must be ended, the documents mentioned further.

On December 8, senior Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) leader Sharafat Hussain King warned the GB government that if it didn’t end the wheat flour and electricity crisis within a week, the party will jam all roads and highways in Gilgit.

The people of GB have tolerated the misgovernance of the provincial government a lot but now such kind of incompetent rulers cannot be tolerated any further. The wheat and electricity crisis in the area was created due to the incompetency of the government. If the government has shown little interest in resolving public issues, it won’t have to face such a critical situation. He alleged that the GB CM and his ministers are spending crores of rupees on their luxuries. But they have got nothing to provide wheat or electricity to the people, the documents said.

He added that his party, as per its manifesto, will take all kinds of legal actions for getting back their rights through people’s power. The prevailing grave situation in GB is intolerable for the citizens of GB and PPP. He called upon the Imam of Juma Wal Jamaat Agha Rahat Hussain Al Hussain and Khatib of Jama Masjid Gilgit Maulana Qazi Nisar Ahmed to play their roles in making the public protest successful.

Jamaat-e-Islami of GB, Amir Maulana Abdul Samih addressed a meeting of local leaders in Gilgit saying that the wheat flour and the load-shedding crisis has taken a grave shape in the disputed region.

He regretted that the people of GB these days are moving pillar to post to get wheat and wheat flour, while there seems no government in the region. He urged PDM parties to play their roles in the procurement of wheat by holding talks with the federal government.

He accused the GB CM and his cabinet of enjoying a luxurious life in Islamabad after handing over the people of GB to the DC.

Maulana described the performance of the PTI government as highly disappointing and said that the problems of the people are increasing day by day. This government lacks vision. He said that there is strong resentment and disappointment among the educated youth of the GB. The government is blatantly flouting merit for appointments in all departments. Bureaucrats are making policies of their choice. People’s difficulties have been further increased by increasing their electricity bills. Former member of the GB assembly and president of Pakistan Rah-e-Haq Party GB Himayatullah Khan in a statement in Gilgit alleged that the GB government fully violated the merit in recent appointments of lady health workers. Ministers made appointments through large-scale corruption, he said, revealing that the youth of GB have become mentally sick due to increasing unemployment.

Himayatullah added that the bureaucracy and provincial government are recruiting their own people through the backdoor entry. There is no government in GB. The jungle law is prevalent in the region. The government and opposition make loud speeches in assembly only for their incentives and personal gains. They are spending not a single penny on their constituencies. In hospitals, neither doctors are available nor is any health facility provided to the patient. Those who were elected by the poor people of the GB are enjoying life while sitting in Islamabad during winter, he said.

GB leaders visit the region like tourists in summer and organise sports galas and dance parties. On the other side, people are moving here and there for water, power, wheat flour and other necessary requirements.

The government is indulged in luxuries while misusing public money, the documents said, adding that the present GB government, which was formed in the name of Insaaf (Justice), has proved as most incompetent and incapable government. (ANI)

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