Seminar demands independent Bolor state

By Ibrahim Shahid

RAWALPINDI: Speakers from the Northern Areas (Gilgit-Baltistan) demanded an independent Bolor state at a seminar ‘Great Bolor State and Kashmir Issue’ at the Rawalpindi Press Club on Sunday.

The seminar was organised by the Bolor Thinker Forum to discuss the Northern Areas issue (Gilgit-Baltistan) which is also known as Bolor with reference to the Kashmir issue. Speakers said the people of Gilgit-Baltistan were an essential component of the Kashmir issue but were currently being ignored.

Due to the Kashmir conflict, the region’s people were being deprived of their rights, a speaker said, adding that people from both Pakistani-administered Kashmir and Indian-held Kashmir enjoyed their own legislative, administrative and judicial set-ups.

However, the Gilgit-Baltistan region is being governed by the Kashmir Affairs and Northern Areas Ministry based in Islamabad, he said. Elected representatives of the Northern Areas Legislative Council do not enjoy the same power as the district assembly, despite the entire region being liberated by the area’s people in 1947.

Speakers said it was their legitimate right to demand an independent Bolor state.

Azad Jammu Kashmir and All Parties National Alliance (APNA) leaders also participated in the seminar. Participants said the APNA had already adopted the two-point agenda of the Gilgit-Baltistan National Alliance. Various banners ranging from the revocation of the 1948 Karachi agreement to the abolishment of the excise and taxation department were displayed.

Speakers who addressed the seminar included Amanullah Khan, Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) chairman, Wajahat Hassan Khan, APNA chairman, Sardar Arif Shahid, APNA general secretary, Amanuullah Khan, Bolor research forum chairman, Raja Hussan Khan, Karakoram newspaper group chief editor, Nawaz Khan Najee, Boloristan chairman, and other prominent leaders.

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