Gilgit:
On Wednesday, the Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) court-in-chief prevented the federal mediator from appointing a regional councilor on the territory on Wednesday, observing that the case requires a detailed audience.
The order came in response to a petition deposited by the Gilgit-Baltistan Advocacy Forum (GBAF), a platform of civil society, which disputed the extension of the federal law to GB when the region had already legislated on the subject.
The forum has argued that protection against the harassment of women at work in 2013, adopted by the GB assembly, has provided the necessary framework, but no provincial mediator had been appointed in the past 12 years.
Despite repeated efforts to initiate political leadership and the National Commission on the Statute of Women, the forum declared that its concerns had been ignored, which prompted him to move the court. Lawyer Muhammad Luqman, who represented the petitioners, presented arguments before a divisional bench who later admitted the case for regular hearing and issued an injunction against the appointment.
Appealing to the “encouraging” decision, the forum declared that the decision would strengthen public confidence in the integrity of the provincial legislative assembly and to empower local laws. “This is an important step for the protection of human rights and regional autonomy in legislation,” said the jubilee spokesman Hunzai, expressing his gratitude to their lawyer for the continuation of the Pro Bono case.
