Make G-B constitutional province or grant special rights, demand lawmakers.

GILGIT -- Members of the Gilgit-Baltistan (G-B) Legislative Assembly have called on the federal government to either make the region a constitutional province as recommended by a high-level parliamentary committee or grant it special rights for being regarded as part of disputed Himalayan valley of Kashmir.

The demands were made by the lawmakers belonging to both opposition and treasury benches - including G-B Assembly Speaker Fida Nashad, Minister Works Dr Iqbal and Opposition Leader Mohammad Shafi - at a joint press conference in Islamabad late Friday.

'If G-B can't be made constitutional province, its people should be given special rights enjoyed by residents of a disputed territory under the UN charter,' said Nashad.

'We are no longer willing to be served under another governance order,' said the speaker, referring to orders promulgated from time to time in G-B.

The first governance order, through which G-B could have its first ever chief minister and governor, was promulgated in 2009, followed by The Government of Gilgit-Baltistan Order, 2018-19.

'We are comfortable with recommendations of the Sartaj Aziz committee to some extent. Therefore, the same should be implemented without any further delay,' said another lawmaker, referring to a committee formed in 2017 under the then adviser to the prime minister on foreign affairs.

The committee recommended that the G-B be given status of a provisional province, till the final settlement of the Jammu and Kashmir dispute and implementation of the UN resolutions on the disputed Himalayan region.

It...