Government of Gilgit-Baltistan
Government of Gilgit-Baltistan
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Government of Gilgit-Baltistan

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Government of Gilgit-Baltistan

The Government of Gilgit-Baltistan (Urdu: حکومتِ گلگت بلتستان) is the government of the administrative territory of Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan. Its powers and structure are set out in the 2009 Gilgit-Baltistan Empowerment and Self-Governance Order, in which 14 districts come under its authority and jurisdiction. The government includes the cabinet, selected from members the Gilgit–Baltistan Assembly, and the non-political civil staff within each department. The province is governed by a unicameral legislature with the head of government known as the Chief Minister. The Chief Minister, invariably the leader of a political party represented in the Assembly, selects members of the Cabinet. The Chief Minister and Cabinet are thus responsible the functioning of government and are entitled to remain in office so long as it maintains the confidence of the elected Assembly. The head of state of the province is known as the Governor. The terms Government of Gilgit–Baltistan or Gilgit–Baltistan Government are often used in official documents. The seat of government is in Gilgit, thus serving as the capital of the territory.

In 1970, the Gilgit Agency, the Baltistan district of erstwhile Ladakh wazarat, and the hill states of Hunza and Nagar were amalgamated to form the Federally Administered Northern Areas or Northern Areas for short. The territory was renamed Gilgit-Baltistan in 2007 and given self-government status in 2009.

While administratively controlled by Pakistan since 1947, Gilgit-Baltistan has not yet been formally integrated into the Pakistani federation state and does not participate in constitutional political affairs. On 29 August 2009, the Gilgit-Baltistan Empowerment and Self-Governance Order 2009 was passed by the Government of Pakistan and later signed by the President. The order granted self-rule to the people of Gilgit-Baltistan, by creating, among other things, an elected Gilgit-Baltistan Legislative Assembly and a Gilgit-Baltistan Council. Gilgit-Baltistan thus gained de facto province-like status without constitutionally becoming part of Pakistan.

In November 2020, Pakistani prime minister Imran Khan announced that Gilgit-Baltistan would attain Interim Semi-Provincial status after the 2020 Gilgit-Baltistan Assembly election.

The Law Ministry of Pakistan recently finalised the draft of the 26th Amendment to the Constitution, submitting it to the prime minister for review. The proposed legislation is aimed at awarding GB provisional provincial status, and is expected to be presented in parliament for debate. If passed by a two-thirds majority in parliament, Gilgit-Baltistan would likely be given the status of province through an amendment in Article 1 of the Constitution. The 26th Amendment would empower Gilgit-Baltistan as per the other provinces of the Pakistan without jeopardizing Pakistan's stance about the Kashmir conflict.

As of now the work on the legislation about the provisional provincial status has been slowed down due to the recent political unrest in Pakistan.

The government of Gilgit Baltistan consists of democratically elected body with the Governor of Gilgit-Baltistan as the constitutional head. The Chief Minister of Gilgit-Baltistan is elected by the Provincial Assembly of the Gilgit-Baltistan to serve as the head of the provincial government in Gilgit-Baltistan. Whereas, the Chief Secretary Gilgit-Baltistan is usually an officer of grade BPS-21 or 22 from the Pakistan Administrative Service acts as an administrative head of the Gilgit-Baltistan.

The Executive Consists of the following departments. Each or two of these departments mix up to form a Ministry. Each of the ministry is headed by the elected minister or a technocrat appointed by the Chief Minister of Gilgit-Baltistan and a provincial secretary of BPS-20 grade officer of the Pakistan Administrative Service.

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