Complete strike, protests in Gilgit-Baltistan against G-B Order 2018

A complete shutter down commercial strike was observed and protests were held in Gilgit-Baltistan to protest against the Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) Reforms Order 2018 that was announced by Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi in Gilgit-Baltistan Legislative Assembly (GBLA) while addressing a joint session of the assembly and GB Council.

Members of the opposition, while registering a strong protest against the order, tore copies of the proposed bill and walked out of the assembly.
Opposition Leader Captain (r) Muhammad Shafi said that the region had been governed through orders for 70 years. “We need constitutional rights and not orders and packages,” he said.
There are 11 members in opposition benches, including members of Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI), Shia Muslim parties Majlis-e-Wahdat-e-Muslimeen and and Islami Tehreek, who later joined the protest gathering at Ittehad Chowk in Gilgit, where thousands of residents were protesting since last night.
Thousands of people in districts of GB protested against the order on Sunday claiming that the bill will take them back to the colonial era. The opposition parties including Awami Action Committee and multiple other bodies and association termed it a ‘black day’ saying that the new law was ‘anti-people’.
Protests were also staged near the assembly where slogans were shouted against the government.
Earlier on Sunday, when PM Abbasi arrived in Gilgit, the police sealed the roads leading to the assembly.
In his address to the protest gathering at Etihad Chowk, Leader of the Opposition in GBLA Muhammad Shafi Khan said, “Unfortunately, the prime minister visited Gilgit like Modi visited occupied Kashmir. The premier imposed the order just a few days before the end of his government despite knowing the aspirations of people and their opposition to the bill.”
The opposition parties have decided to continue the protests until the order is withdrawn. Agha Ali Rizvi of MWM is one of the eminent leaders of the ongoing protest.
Earlier on Saturday, a number of people were injured when police shot teargas shells and tried to stop the protesters from approaching the Gilgit-Baltistan Legislative Assembly for a sit-in against the legislation.
Aerial firing by the police injured two opposition lawmakers, PTI’s Raja Jahanzeb and MWM’s Rizwan Ali, along with 12 other local leaders.
The protest across GB started on Friday in 10 districts including Gilgit, Skardu, Shigar Kharmang, Ganche, Hunza, Nagar, Ghizar and Astor of the region. The protesters rejected the bill and said that the region should be declared a part of Pakistan instead of being administered through presidential orders.
The parties comprising the combined opposition in the GBLA had given the call for protests.
According to opposition parties in GB and legal experts, the order, if implemented in the current shape, would do away with the little autonomy that was granted by the 2009 ordinance.
The proposed reform legislation gives overriding powers to the prime minister of Pakistan as it confers legislative, executive and judicial powers to the premier. However, the people of Gilgit-Baltistan don’t have any representation in Pakistan’s federal legislature and are, therefore, effectively deprived of any role in PM’s election in the National Assembly.
India summons Pakistani deputy high commissioner:
On the other hand, India summoned Pakistan’s Deputy High Commissioner Syed Haider Shah on Sunday to protest against the order changing the status of Gilgit-Baltistan.
India told the Pakistani diplomat that the entire state of Jammu & Kashmir was an integral part of India and Islamabad had no legal basis for its actions.
“Any action to alter the status of any part of the territory under the forcible and illegal occupation of Pakistan has no legal basis whatsoever and is completely unacceptable. Instead of seeking to alter the status of the occupied territories, Pakistan should immediately vacate all areas under its illegal occupation,” the Indian ministry of external affairs said.