Several protests grip Pakistan-occupied Gilgit Baltistan

Islamabad, Aug 14 (IANS) Several protests gripped various parts of Pakistan-occupied Gilgit-Baltistan (PoGB) even as the sit-in by the police personnel outside the local leader's house entered its fourth day on Thursday, local media reported.

The policemen has been holding protest to demand increase in their allowance as per the 2025-26 budget. Police personnel from other districts, including those deployed for the security of Chinese nationals in Chilas, were also part of the the sit-in in Gilgit, Pakistan's leading daily Dawn reported. PoGB police's daily allowance had been increased from Pakistani Rupees (PKR) 440 to PKR 880 in the budget. However, the authorities have not issued any notification in this regard.

The protesting police personnel said that they have been raising this demand for months. They further stated that a protest held two weeks back was called off following the assurance give by the authorities that their issues would be resolved in 14 days.

Instead of addressing the issue, PoGB police on Monday began departmental proceedings against personnel accused of "misconduct". As per the official order, 63 officials have been dismissed from service in the initial phase. The decisions were reportedly made during disciplinary committee's meeting.

Meanwhile, the lawyers' bodies in PoGB also held a major protest and boycotted the court proceedings in Gilgit, Skardu, Ghizer and other districts. The lawyers have been staging protests over their demands for the past 10 months. As per the statement, Gilgit-Baltistan Bar Council, Supreme Court Bar Association GB, High Court Bar Association GB and District Bar Association Gilgit held a joint meeting.

During the meeting, the lawyers bodies decided to observe strike and not attend the court proceedings until their demands were met. The demands raised by lawyer bodies, included appointment of judges on vacant positions in the PoGB Supreme Appellate Court. According to the statement, the lawyers expressed reservations regarding authorities failure in not fulfilling their demands despite repeated protests and termed the failure to implement demands "a conspiracy against GB people".

Lawyers have also demanded extension of the Lawyers Protection Act to PoGB by the federal government, describing the decision important for ensuring their safety and professional rights, as per the report. The lawyers demanded advertisement of vacant civil judge positions and called for separating judicial magistrate posts from civil judge posts.

The lawyers stated that the GB Supreme Appellate Court has been functioning with only one judge for the past seven years. According to rules, a single judge cannot hear all cases, leading to thousands of important cases remaining pending.

Meanwhile, protests were held over electricity shortage at Sikandarabad, Nagar, with the protesters blocking the Diamer section of Karakoram Highway (KKH). Residents held similar protests in Nagar Khas and other regions.

--IANS

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