Green tourism case sparks protests in PoGB, local leader criticises administration

Gilgit City [PoGB], July 8 (ANI): Locals of Pakistan-occupied Gilgit Baltistan (PoGB) in recent times have protested against the Green Tourism leasing case.

Reportedly the local administration of PoGB recently allotted huge chunks of forest land and several rest houses to private business owners from the Punjab Province while entirely bypassing the legal procedure. Allegedly the leased lands also included several land masses owned by individual entities and not the government, a local news source from PoGB reported.

Responding towards the same issue during a public gathering in PoGB, the Chairman of the Awami Action Committee (AAC) Advocate Ehsaan Ali slammed the acts of the local administration calling it an act of corruption, which will not be tolerated by the general public anymore.

In his letter, the PoGB leader called upon the Chief Minister of PoGB Haji Gulbar Khan and said, “Gulbar Saab (Gulbar Khan), the days of your ruling have passed now and you have been exposed along with your entire corrupt government and officials. And now the general public will hold you accountable.”

“But we will do everything under our charter of demands, and we will do it peacefully. We will not use violence, as we are different from you. You have always been the one to choose violence be it in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan, Punjab province or Sindh it was always you who chose violence and instigated terror. We the people of PoGB know what have we lost because of you and now we have recognized every one of your evil tactics. And now we will hold you accountable” he added.

In his statement, Ehsaan Ali also lamented the government for keeping the people of PoGB poor and looting their resources for over 70 years.

Ehsaan Ali said, “We know that what all you have done in PoGB, we will hold you accountable for your atrocities of over 70 years. We will hold you accountable for the resources that you have looted from PoGB, we will hold you accountable for keeping us poor, keeping us uneducated and keeping us away from the most basic facilities essential for survival. You have sold our lands to outsiders. You have brought China to the doorsteps of PoGB literally. You treated our lands like a bargaining chip for increasing your business and making a profit. And we cannot permit you to do this anymore. The company that you have leased our lands to is not willing to share any benefit with us and even the general public now understands all this”.

“You have betrayed a lot of people and stop doing this right away, and if you cannot stop doing this resign immediately, as you have now lost the right to be the ruler of this land. You have betrayed the people, and have sold the lands of the people to outsiders and exposed us to a lot of problems, and who gave you permission to do all this” Ehsaan Ali said in his statement.