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Gilgit-Baltistan |
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Gilgit is the capital city
of the Gilgit-Baltistan (Northern Areas), Pakistan and a tehsil (headquarters) of Gilgit
District. Its ancient name was Sargin which later on came to be known as
Gilit and it is still called Gilit or Sargin-Gilit by local people, it was
the Sikh and Dogra conquerors who gave it the name of Gilgit, in the
Burushaski language, it is named Geelt. Ghallata is considered its name in
ancient Sanskrit literature. Gilgit city is one of the two major hubs on the
Northern Areas for all mountaineering expeditions of Karakoram to the peaks
of the Himalayas, the other hub being Skardu.
Gilgit has an area of 14,680 square miles (38,021 kmē). The region is
significantly mountainous, lying on the foothills of the Karakoram
mountains, and has an average altitude of 1,500 metres (4,900 ft). It is
drained by the Indus River, which rises in the neighbouring regions of
Ladakh and Baltistan.
Northern Area consists of two divisions:
- Baltistan division: Ghanche and Skardu
Districts.
- Gilgit division: Astore, Diamir, Ghizar,
Gilgit and Hunza-Nagar Districts.
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Baltistan and Gilgit states
were abolished during British period, while Hunza and Nagar continued to
exist until India-Pakistan partition in 1947. |
Nagar was an autonomous
principality in close association with neighbouring Hunza. The British
gained control of both states in 1889 and 1892. The British retained Nagar's
status as a 'principality' until 1947 but together with Hunza it was
considered a vassal of Kashmir, although never ruled directly by it. The
rulers of Nagar sent annual tributes to the Kashmir Durbar until 1947, and
along with the ruler of Hunza, were considered amongst the most loyal
vassals of the Maharaja of Kashmir. |
In 1947, these states acceded
to Pakistan, but continued as semi autonomous state. When Ayub Khan's dictatorship ended in Pakistan and
the democratic government of the Pakistan Peoples Party under Zulfiqar Ali
Bhutto came into power through elections it realized the sentiments of the
people against the Mir for democracy, so the Government freed the prisoners of
the movement and dissolved the Mirs of Hunza and Nagar and were merged into a
single entity as the
Northern Areas in 1974. |
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Below are princely states of Northern Area shown
alphabetically before 1947. |
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Gilgit-Baltistan - Part of Pakistan |
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02 Nov 1947 Northern Areas administered by Pakistan as part of North-West
Frontier Province.
1950 Control of Northern Areas transferred
from North-West Frontier
Province to Ministry of Kashmir
Affairs.
14 Oct 1955 - 01 Jul 1970 Part of West Pakistan province.
01 Jul 1970 Federally administered Northern Areas
created.
04 Jan 2008 Devolution package grants autonomy.
28 Aug 2009 Northern Areas renamed Gilgit-Baltistan. |
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On 28th Aug 2009, Gilgit-Baltistan (Empowerment and
Self-Governance) order, renames the Northern Areas as Gilgit-Baltistan and sets
up a council under the chairmanship of the Prime Minister of Pakistan. The head
of the Gilgit-Baltistan region will be a governor to be appointed by the
President. He will also be the vice-chairman of the Gilgit-Baltistan Council. An
elected legislature will replace the region's current assembly. It will appoint
a chief executive, the chief minister. The governor will appoint a cabinet on
the advice of the chief minister. The Kashmir Affairs and Northern Areas
minister is likely to be appointed as the area's first governor. A federal
cabinet is likely to approve a constitutional reforms package to give all the
rights of a province to the Gilgit-Baltistan region without declaring it a
province.
Amanullah Khan, chairman of the Jammu and Kashmir
Liberation Front (JKLF), said Islamabad has lost support of the Security Council
over the years due to a 'wavering stand' on Kashmir and now it was squandering
whatever goodwill it had by merging Gilgit-Baltistan with Pakistan. Nationalist
parties in Hunza-Nagar rejected the Self Governance Order, describing it as old
wine in a new bottle. Hefizur Rehman, member of the Northern Areas Legislative
Assembly, termed the package a gimmickry of words and said once again the centre
(federal government of Pakistan) was trying to hoodwink the people of the
Northern Areas. On 07th Sep 2009, President Asif
Ali Zardari on Monday signed the Gilgit-Baltistan (Empowerment and
Self-Governance) Order 2009 aimed at introducing far-reaching administrative,
political, financial and judicial reforms in the Northern Areas. The President
congratulated the people of Gilgit and Baltistan on the realization of yet
another dream of emancipation. He recalled the reforms by the PPP in 1975 and
again in 1994 and said he was pleased that the PPP government and reforms in
Northern Areas were interlinked. Minister for Kashmir Affairs and Northern Areas
(KANA) Qamar Zaman Kaira would take the charge as Acting Governor of Northern
Areas following the federal cabinet approved self-governance reforms package
aimed at giving it full internal autonomy besides changing its nomenclature to
Gilgit-Baltistan. |
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(Federal Mininisters for Kashmir Affairs and Northern
Areas)Nawabzada Liaquat Ali
Khan.......................31 Oct 1949 - 13 Apr 1950
Unknown Chief Executive from 13 Apr 1950 to 24 Oct
1951 or probably vacant.
Mushtaq Ahmad Gurmani............................24
Oct 1951 - 26 Nov 1951
Mahmud Husain....................................26
Nov 1951 - 17 Apr 1953
Shoaib Qureshi...................................18
Apr 1953 - 24 Oct 1954
Mohammad Ali Bogra (1st
time)....................24
Oct 1954 - 06 Nov 1954
Iskandar Ali Mirza (Military)....................06
Nov 1954 - 20 Jan 1955
Sardar Mumtaz Ali
Khan...........................20 Jan 1955 - 11 Aug 1955
Syed Abid Husain.................................11
Aug 1955 - 14 Oct 1955
Mohammad Ali Bogra (2nd
time)....................17
Oct 1955 - 12 Sep 1956
Huseyn Shaheed
Suhrawardy........................12 Sep 1956 - 18 Oct 1957
Yusuf A. Haroon..................................18
Oct 1957 - 16 Dec 1957
Malik Firoz Khan
Nun.............................16 Dec 1957 - 07 Oct 1958
Mohammad Ayub Khan
Tareen (Military -
1st time)..28 Oct
1958 - 23 Apr 1960
Zulfikar Ali Bhutto (1st
time)...................23
Apr 1960 - 01 Jun 1960
Akhtar Husain....................................01
Jun 1960 - 01 Mar 1962
W.A. Burki (Military)............................02
Mar 1962 - 03 Mar 1962
Zulfikar Ali Bhutto (2nd
time)...................03
Mar 1962 - 08 Jun 1962
Habibullah.......................................13 Jun 1962 - 23 Mar 1965
Mohammad Ayub Khan
Tareen (Military -
2nd time)..23 Mar
1965 - 17 Aug 1965
Chaudhry Ali Akbar
Khan..........................17 Aug 1965 - 30 Nov 1966
A.R. Khan (Military).............................05
Dec 1966 - 23 Mar 1969
Abdul Hamid Khan (Military)......................05
Apr 1969 - 03 Aug 1969
Sardar Abdul
Rashid..............................04 Aug 1969 - 22 Feb 1971
Unknown Chief Executive
from 22 Feb to 24 Dec 1971 or probably vacant.
Zulfikar Ali Bhutto (3rd
time)...................24
Dec 1971 - 06 Mar 1972
As Provinical Coordinator.
Abdul Qayyum
Khan................................13 May 1972 - 22 Oct 1974
Jamal Dar (1st
time).............................22
Oct 1974 - 05 Feb 1976
Syed Qaim Ali Shah
Jillani.......................05 Feb 1976 - 28 Mar 1977
Muhammad Haneef
Khan.............................30 Mar 1977 - 05 Jul 1977
Unknown Chief Executive
from 05 Jul 1977 to 14 Jan 1978 or probably
vacant.
Faiz Ali Chishti (Military
- 1st time)...........14
Jan 1978 - 23 Aug 1978
Faqir Mohammad
Khan..............................27 Aug 1978 - 21 Apr 1979
Faiz Ali Chishti (Military
- 2nd time)...........21
Apr 1979 - 31 Mar 1980
Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq..............................31
Mar 1980 - 09 Mar 1981
Jamal Dar (2nd
time).............................09
Mar 1981 - 25 Dec 1982
Raja Sikandar Zaman..............................05
Jan 1983 - 05 Mar 1983
Jamal Said Mian (Military).......................05
Mar 1983 - 24 Mar 1985
Mohammad Khan Junejo.............................10
Apr 1985 - 21 May 1985
Syed Qasim
Shah..................................21 May 1985 - 29 May 1988
Malik Nasim Ahmed
Aheer..........................09 Jun 1988 - 17 Nov 1988
Muhammad Hanif
Khan..............................04 Dec 1988 - 23 Mar 1989
Mir Baz Muhammad Khan
Khetran....................23 Mar 1989 - 28 Jan 1990
Abdul Majid Malik................................07
Oct 1990 - 06 Nov 1990
Sardar Mehtab Ahmed
Khan.........................17 Nov 1990 - 18 Jul 1993
Mohammad Shafiq..................................26
Jul 1993 - 19 Oct 1993
Mohammad Afzal
Khan..............................21 Oct 1993 - 05 Nov 1996
Omar Khan Afridi.................................05
Nov 1996 - 17 Feb 1997
Gohar Ayub
Khan..................................25 Feb 1997 - 11 Jul 1997
Malik Abdul Majeed...............................11
Jul 1997 - 12 Oct 1999
Faisal Saleh Hayat (1st
time)....................12
Oct 1999 - 06 Nov 1999
Abbas Sarfaraz Khan (1st
time)...................06
Nov 1999 - 28 Aug 2002
Nisar Ahmad Memon................................28
Aug 2002 - 23 Nov 2002
Aftab Ahmad Khan
Sherpao............................Dec 2002 - 30 Jun 2004
Syed Ghazi Gulab
Jamal...........................30 Jun 2004 - 25 Aug 2004
Faisal Saleh Hayat (2nd
time)....................02
Sep 2004 - 25 Apr 2006
Tahir Iqbal
.....................................25 Apr 2006 - 16 Nov 2007
Abbas Sarfaraz
Khan (2nd time)...................16
Nov 2007 - 04 Jan 2008
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- Chairmen (Federal Mininisters for
Kashmir Affairs and Northern Areas)
- Abbas Sarfaraz
Khan..............................04 Jan 2008 - 31 Mar 2008
- Qamar Zaman Kaira................................31
Mar 2008 - 15 Sep 2009
- Governors
- Qamar Zaman Kaira
(acting).......................15
Sep 2008 - 22 Mar 2010
- Dr. Shama Khalid (female)........................23
Mar 2010 - 15 Sep 2010
- She knew about her cancer at very late stage
in June 2010 and died on 15 Sep 2010 at 17:00 PST.
- Wazir Baig (acting)..............................20
Sep 2010 - 01 Feb 2011
- As speaker of the Gilgit-Baltistan Legislative
Assembly (GBLA), he took oath as the acting governor.
- Pir Syed Karam Ali
Shah..........................01 Feb 2011 - 16 Feb 2015
- He died on 03 August 2020.
- Chaudhry Muhammad
Barjees Tahir..................16 Feb 2015 - 24 Nov 2015
- The federal minister for Gilgit-Baltistan and
Kashmir affairs since 13 June 2013, Barjees Tahir, is given additional
charge as governor of Gilgit-Baltistan.
- Mir Ghazanfar Ali Khan............................24 Nov 2015 -
15 Sep 2018
- The governor of Gilgit-Baltistan, Mir
Ghazanfar Ali Khan, submits his resignation. President Arif Alvi accepts
it on September 15 and the speaker of the local assembly, Fida Muhammad
Nashad, becomes acting governor. On 25 September, Raja Jalal Hussain
Maqpoon is appointed governor (sworn in September 30).
- Fida Muhammad
Nashad (acting).....................15
Sep 2018 - 30 Sep 2018
- Raja Jalal Hussain
Maqpoon........................30 Sep 2018 - date
- He was appointed the governor of
Gilgit-Baltistan by President Arif Alvi on the advice of Prime Minister
Imran Khan after the resignation of Mir Ghazanfar Ali Khan.
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- Chief Executive
- Mir Ghazanfar Ali
Khan...........................04 Jan 2008 - 11 Dec 2009
- Chief Minister
- Syed Mehdi
Shah..................................11 Dec 2009 - 12 Dec 2014
- Sher Jahan Mir (acting)..........................12
Dec 2014 - 26 Jun 2015
- Hafiz Hafeezur
Rahman............................26 Jun 2015 - date
- Rehman was born in Kashrote, Gilgit. He
received his early education in Jamia Faridia madrassa, later on
graduated from Punjab University. His elder brother Saif Rehman had been
like a political alma mater for him, who played the key role in
establishing Pakistan Muslim League-N in Gilgit-Baltistan. In 2003 Saif
Rehman who was serving education, finance and revenue adviser in the
then set-up, was assassinated in his hometown Kashrote near Gilgit city.
Hafiz Hafeezur Rehman is currently leader of Pakistan's conservative
political party PML-N, in Gilgit-Baltistan.
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