BNF NOTE: The so-called Chief Minister Mehdi Shah and other members of Gilgit Baltistan and Council have not been elected by any impartial election body. In the 2009 elections the indigenous people alliance (Gilgit Baltistan Democratic Alliance) was not allowed to participate in the election process by arresting the candidates and intimidation the nationalists and some leaders were sent to exile when they tried to speak to the public in Gilgit Baltistan. GBLA or GB Council headed by Pakistanis is not acceptable, which is illegal as per UNCIP resolution. Instead of making such drama, Pakistan should withdraw its forces and civilians as per its UN obligation.

Rawalpindi, Oct 06:   The leadership of the Alliance of the nationalist elements, groups, organizations and political parties – All Parties National Alliance (APNA), Sabir Kashmiri, Advocate, M.Iqbal, Advocate, Shahid Hussain, Advocate, Mr. Arif Shahid, Mr. Farooq Niazi, Prof. MARK Khaleeque, Mirza Nadir Hussan Khan, Mehmood Baig, Advocate, Sardar Waseem, Advocate, Mr. Mehfooz Tahir, Mr. Manzoor Parwana, Mr. Afzaal Salaria, Mr. Safdar Ali, Mr. Burhan Ullah and some others have, in a joint statement, strongly condemned Mr. Mehdi Shah's, the chief minister of OGB, statement that people of OGB wanted their territory to become Pakistan's 5th province.

They said that Mehdi Shah was not the representative of the people, rather he was representative of Zardari & Co. and no more no less. The land of OGB was not a fiefdom of any particular person, nor 2 million people of the territory were bond-labourers of some one or a clan, dynasty or group, they stressed. They said that since this land was political and administrative part of Jammu Kashmir on 1st Aug, 1947, before the division of Indian Subcontinent, which caused Jammu Kashmir dispute; so it was part of that dispute, which was not yet settled. Obviously, they explained, no sane person should issue such misguiding and provocative statements till the final resolution of the dispute. The leadership of APNA pressed the point that Jammu Kashmir including OGB (Occupied Gilgit Baltistan) was disputed and couldn't be made a legal part of any of the parties before it was resolved. However, the people of the territory had the right to decide to join any other part of Jammu  Kashmir or to remain independent, but not the people like Mehdi Shah who were just cronies of the ruling classes of Pakistan and nothing else. They warned such elements to desist from using such abusive and provocative phrases against the people who wanted nothing except independence, for the Pakistan was not acceptable even for Balochi's, Sindhis and Pakhtoons who were technically part of Pakistan. "Does Mehdi Shah think that the people of OGB were so foolish to choose such a country as an abode for their future generations by opting a sinking boat where the worship places couldn't be kept opened without gun men", they asked? The leadership of APNA appealed to the citizens of Jammu Kashmir all over the world to be conscious of the consequences of such actions and to protest against such actions and statements.