(POGB) KARACHI PACT 28TH APRIL 1949 REFLECTION OF PAKISTANI KASHMIR POLICY
PAKISTAN OCCUPIED KASHMIR (SO-CALLED ,AZAD KASHMIR)
In terms of territory, the area of the state of Jammu and Kashmir is 222,236 sq kilometers while the area illegally occupied by Pakistan is 78,114 sq. kilometers.
The areas occupied by Pakistan comprise so-called "Azad Kashmir" (referred to hereafter as POK for Pakistan Occupied Kashmir) and the Northern Areas of Gilgit, Baltistan and Hunza, etc. Pakistan does not trust the administration of POK to handle the Northern Areas which Islamabad considers strategically vital. The Northern Areas which have been incorporated into Pakistan, are five times the size of the area designated as ‘Azad Kashmir’.
As a constitutional enigma POK is unique. It has been given the trappings of a country with a President, a Prime Minister and a Legislature of its own. But POK is neither a country or a even province.
From the time of the Karachi Agreement (April 28, 1949) the POK President and the Prime Minister have enjoyed only titular power. The Karachi Agreement between Pakistan (Mustaq Goormani Minister without any portfolio (office), POK Govt(Sardar Ibriaham KhanPresidant POK Govt). and the Muslim Conference(Ch.Gulam Abbas President Muslim Confrence) handed over matters related to defence, foreign policy, negotiations with the then UN Commission for India and Pakistan (UNCIP) and co-ordination of all affairs relating to Gilgit and Ladakh areas to Pakistan. Residual powers were kept vague. Pakistan retained control of the following subjects :
- Defence
- Foreign policy’ of POK
- Rehabilitation of refugees and
- Control over all affairs of Gilgit and Ladakh.
The POK government was saddled with overseeing:
- The policy with regard to administration
- General supervision of administration, and
- Publicity of its own activities. The charter of the Muslim Conference was restricted to publicity on the plebiscite and ‘general guidance of the POK government’. The Karachi Agreement was a landmark in that it sought to institutionalize Kashmiri subservience to Pakistan and put POK in its place.
It was the Chief Plebiscite Officer of the Pakistan Government who controlled all the levers of power in the initial stages. On the ground, the power vested in the officers deputed by Pakistan’s government to POK.
The Chief Plebiscite Officer was notified as the Chief Advisor to the Government of Pakistan, ex officio. He was a Joint Secretary in the Central Government but in actual terms right from 1949 to 1968, he was the de facto ruler of POK. He owed nothing to the POK Government as he was appointed by the Ministry of Kashmir Affairs, which was formed in 1952 under the general supervision of the Home Ministry. In 1963 Ayub Khan transferred it to his Presidential Secretariat.
When Gen. Ayub Khan took power and unseated President Iskander Mirza, political activities in POK were banned. Once Ayub felt confident enough to release the pressure of the army’s stranglehold on Pakistan, he conceived the idea of ‘Basic Democracies’. This system was more in tune with colonial thinking and practice, providing that only people who fulfilled certain criteria like basic education, or income levels, should be allowed to exercise their franchise. The Basic Democracies were extended to the POK in 1960 through the Azad J&K Basic Democracies Act.
For the first time, the POK President and the POK Council were to be elected, through the indirect means of ‘Basic Democracies’. The Council remained a mere advisory body. The President was elected in 1961 through an electoral college of 1200 indirectly elected basic Democrats in POK and another 1200 who represented Kashmiri refugees in Pakistan. K.H.Khurshid, was the first President of POK and was dismissed in 1964 because he began asserting himself. He wanted POK to be a party to the Indus Waters Treaty, a treaty which he clearly opposed.
The ‘Outlook’ of Karachi wrote on August 14, 1964: "The uncomfortable truth is that the Ministry of Kashmir Affairs has acquired a vested interest of its own. It treats ‘Azad Kashmir’ territory and Gilgit-Balistan areas as its own domain which a Joint Secretary controls as Chief Advisor. His overlordship is supreme and without such checks and balances as are applicable to areas of Pakistan. The possibility of friction between the ‘Azad Kashmir’ government and the Ministry of Kashmir Affairs has always been there. The Ministry likes to deal with puppets, not with the Presidents who take their position too literally".
In 1968, an attempt was made to soft-pedal POK for a while. Some cosmetic reforms were introduced abolishing "the practice whereby the Presidents of Azad Kashmir were selected, in effect, by the Minister of Kashmir Affairs. In future they would be chosen by a State Council of twelve individuals, eight elected directly through Basic Democracies, and four nominated by the President of Pakistan.
A new Interim Constitution of POK was promulgated on November 5, 1975 during the time of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, which made the Prime Minister the executive head instead of the President of POK. As a result of this, a 13-member Azad J&K Council was formed, with the Pakistan Prime Minister as Chairman and the POK President as Vice-Chairman. Islamabad could nominate six members to the Council who had to be either Pakistani Federal Ministers or Members of the Pak National Assembly. The Chairman, along with these six federal nominees, gave the Government of Pakistan a majority in the Council.
Along with this constitution, the Presidential Election Bill was also passed on August 25, 1974 providing for the direct election of the President through adult franchise, and of the PM by a majority in the Assembly. Later there was a switch, through an amendment, which envisaged that the PM was to be the head of the executive in place of the President.
Power, however, still rested with the officials of Pakistan, and the Ministry of Kashmir Affairs in Islamabad with regard to all legislation and appointments, questions of general policy, budget, internal security, matters involving heavy financial commitment, public debts and loans, taxes and important matters relating to civil supplies.
General Zia-ul-Haq dissolved the POK Legislative Assembly on August 10, 1977. On July 31, 1979, Zia issued a martial law order suspending all political activities in POK. Political activity in POK remained suspended till June 17, 1985 when Sikandar Hayat took over as Prime Minister and Abdul Qayyum took over as President after an election, restricted only to ‘registered’ parties, thus disqualifying the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP).
For POK, self determination, as inscribed in the constitution, relates to the ultimate accession of Jammu and Kashmir to Pakistan. Part 2 of Section 7 of the POK Constitution states: "No person or political party in Azad Jammu and Kashmir shall be permitted to propagate against, or take part in activities prejudicial or detrimental to, the ideology of the State’s accession to Pakistan".
Under Section 5(2) (vii) of the POK Legislative Assembly Election Ordinance 1970, a person would be disqualified for propagating any opinion or action in any manner prejudicial to the ideology of Pakistan, the ideology of State’s accession to Pakistan or the sovereignty and integrity of Pakistan. The same caveat applies to anyone who "defames or brings into ridicule the judiciary of AJK of Pakistan or the Armed Forces of Pakistan".
In the 1996 elections in POK parties and candidates who wished to participate on the platform of independence and refused to sign the declaration calling POK’s accession to Pakistan an article of faith, were denied the right to field candidates.
While guaranteeing freedom of speech, Article 9 of the POK Constitution, imposes "reasonable restrictions in the interests of the security of AJK and friendly relations with Pakistan". The oath of office for the President, PM, Minister, Speaker, MLA or MLC of POK clearly includes the following clause: "That I will remain loyal to the country and the cause of accession of the state of Jammu and Kashmir to Pakistan".
Section 56 of the Constitution gives the Pakistan Government all the rights. Nothing shall "prevent the Government of Pakistan from taking such action as it may consider necessary or expedient for the effective discharge of those responsibilities". The responsibilities are defined under Section 31 and include UNCIP resolutions, defence and security of POK, currency and issue bills and the external affairs of POK. Islamabad has the right to dismiss the POK Government under this clause.
The events in and political configuration of POK during the earlier regimes in Pakistan show that:
- POK was devoid of franchise till 1960, since no election was held till then;
- From 1960 to 1975 the only elections held were indirect, through the ‘Basic Democracies’ of Ayub Khan;
- POK has been effectively governed through the Ministry of Kashmir Affairs in Islamabad and through a Chief Advisor of the rank of a Joint Secretary;
- Since Bhutto’s Constitution in 1974, the main executive authority in POK rests with the Council of which the Pakistan PM is the Chairman and which he dominates with his six nominees; and
- Each executive head of Pakistan, be it General Ayub Khan, President and then Prime Minister Bhutto or General Zia, did exactly what he wanted in POK, brought in martial law or the form of government which he desired, suspended political activities when he chose, and sacked the President/Prime Minister he disliked. The latest victim was Prime Minister Mumtaz Rathore, who was dismissed, arrested and flown by helicopter to a Pakistani prison in 1991. After the elections in June 1996, the President of POK, Sikander Hayat Khan, was removed through a voice vote in the Assembly.
- Sunday, January 11, 2009
POK Assembly replaced PM Attique Khan.
POK Assembly has replaced its parliamentary leader through no confidence motion last Tuesday. Sardar Attique Khan got only 15 votes after splitting his ruling Muslim conference and his opponent Sardar Yakub Khan got 31 votes out of 46 members Assembly. MC has 32 MLAs, PPP has 7 MLAs, Peoples Muslim league 4, MQM 2 and one is Independent. Sardar Attique has corruption charges, majority of his MC members turned against him because he was involved in corruption, mismanagement, nepotism, but some analysts think that corruption charges are true but not the only reason to remove him from power. His corruption charges are not new nor he is the only one who is involved to use this kind of position to get benefits. In POK area corruption is not prohibited at all nor it has been considered crime for these parasite class, as long as they are followers of their masters in Islamabad, most of their masters love to involve in corruption.
