Gilgit-Baltistan has been divided into three divisions to ensure better administration.

This was announced by the Chief Minister Mehdi Shah on Tuesday. “We have decided to divide the region into three divisions for better administrative control,” Mehdi Shah told reporters at his residence. He said that a decision to this effect was taken in the cabinet meeting held on Tuesday.

Giving details, he said the first division would comprise towns including Gilgit, Hunza-Nagar and Ghizer districts while Astore and Diamer districts would be included in the second division. Similarly he said Baltistan would comprise the third division which has already been notified.

“The decision has been taken in accordance with the people’s demands and a resolution passed by the assembly,” he said, adding that Chalat valley of Hunza-Nagar, Chorebutt of Ghanche, Phandar of Ghizer and Gultari of Skardu districts were notified as subdivisions.

He said a commissioner would be appointed as the administrative head of each division and people would not have to travel long distance unnecessarily.

Chief Secretary G-B Saifullah Chatta who was also present with the chief minister said that in future there would be no issue of salaries of government employees as issues pertaining to funds and overdraft have been resolved.

Protesters who blocked the Karakoram Highway in Chilas on Sunday, refused to open it for traffic on the second consecutive day, demanding that the police arrest the murderers of Abdul Wakil, who was target killed last week.

A resident of Chilas, Wakil, fell victim to sectarian violence in Gilgit. The city witnessed an upsurge in shooting incidents in which four people were killed and four others injured.

Wakil’s son, who was accompanying him at the time of the incident, said his father’s killers checked his national identity card before shooting him. Residents of Nagral, the place where Wakil was killed, said they handed over one of the killers to the police to prove they were against sectarianism.

Protesters have declared the highway will remain blocked till the murderers are arrested. Sources in the district administration said negotiations between the authorities and the protesters failed as they did not trust assurances given by officials.

Meanwhile, police in Gilgit said at least 12 people have been arrested so far and are being investigated. Since last Saturday, security forces have been given powers to shoot terrorists on sight.

“The blockade has left hundreds of vehicles stranded on both sides of the highway,” said a resident of Chilas. More than 5,000 protesters rejected the government’s request to clear the highway that serves as the only land route connecting Gilgit-Baltistan to the rest of the country and China.

While briefing reporters in Gilgit on Monday, the chief minister said a new security plan had been devised to contain violence in the city, but he did not elaborate.

Published in The Express Tribune

Another man Abdul Wakeel shot dead in Nagaral, Gilgit city by unknown gunmen today. Abdul Wakeel was resident of Chilas. He was coming to Gilgit in Astori passenger van.

Another man,   Hamid Hussain,  a cap driver,  resident of   Nagaral was injured in a another firing incident near Ehsan Ali road, Kashrote.

Rizwan, a young boy who was wounded by unknown gunmen three days ago succumbed to injuries and died in hospital on Saturday.

News Source Sada-e-Gilgit

Gilgit: DSP investigation Ibrahim shout dead by unknown gun men in Majeni Mohalla Gilgit. DSP Ibrahim was present in front of his home; armed men riding bikes opened fire at Ibrahim and instantly disappeared. He was immediately shifted to the District Headquarters Hospital where he succumbed to his fatal injuries. DSP Ibrahim was a resident of Astore District.

گلگت: مجینی محلہ میں نامعلوم افرادنے ڈی ایس پی انوسٹی گیشن محمدابراہیم کوٹارگٹ کرکےقتل کردیا۔محمدابراہیم دفترسےگھرآنےکےبعدمجینی محلہ میں اپنےگھرسےسامنےموجودتھےکہ موٹرسائیکل سواروں نےانہیں نشانہ بنایااورموقع سےفرارہوگئے۔ابراہیم کوفوری طورپرایجنسی اسپتال منتقل کردیاتاہم وہ زخمیوں کی تاب نہ لاتےہوئےچل بسے۔استورسےتعلق رکھنےوالے محمدابراہیم کاشمارگلگت بلتستان کےان چندشخصیات میں ہوتاہےجنہوں نےمذہبی منافرت،فرقہ واریت اورلسانی تعصبات کی ہمیشہ حوصلہ شکنی کی اورمذہبی ہم آہنگی کی مثالیں قائم کیں۔خطےمیں دہشت گردی کےحالیہ لہرمیں زیادہ ترایسےہی افرادکونشانہ بنایاجارہاہے۔حال ہی چلاس سےتعلق رکھنےوالےمعروف سماجی کارکن جہانگیرخان،جودیامرمیں تعلیم نسوان کےلیےکوشاں تھے،کوجوٹیال میں دن دھاڑے موت کےگھاٹ اتاراگیا۔جبکہ دیامراوردیگرکچھ علاقوں میں خواتین کے اسکولوں کودھماکوں سےاڑانےکےواقعات میں تشویشناک حدتک اضافہ ہوگیاہے۔

درین اثناراجہ بازارکےقریب ایک نوجوان عزیزالرحمان گولی لگنےسےزخمی ہوگیا۔پویس کاکہناہےکہ ابتدائی معلومات کےمطابق عزیزالرحمان اپنے ہی ریوالورکی گولی لگنےسےزخمی ہواہے۔واقعےکی تحقیقات شروع کردی گئیں ہیں۔

Verdict in nurse Shabana Akhtar’s murder case has been handed down.

An Anti-Terrorism court on Monday awarded death penalty to the main accused, and life imprisonment and seven years jail to two others accused of killing the 20-year-old nurse in May and then portraying it as a suicide in Gilgit.

“Besides the death penalty, the main accused, Nadeem Abbas, was also fined Rs0.3 million,” court sources told The Express Tribune.

In a short order released on Monday by ATC Judge Justice Raja Shahbaz Khan, Jamila Bibi, a hostel warden, was awarded life imprisonment while the co-accused, Ijlal Hussain, was sentenced to seven years in jail. However, the court acquitted the doctors who were allegedly involved in faking an autopsy report.

Shabana Akhtar, a young nurse from the Astore valley, was found hanging from a ceiling fan in her room at a Gilgit nursing hostel in May. Initially, police closed the case after a panel of doctors, headed by Medical Officer Dr Yaqoob, examined the body and declared it a suicide.

However, after the brother and father of Shabana rejected the post-mortem report and appealed to the chief justice of Gilgit’s Supreme Appellate Court for re-examination of the body by independent panel of doctors, the court took suo motu notice of the murder.

Consequently, the police launched fresh investigations into the incident which eventually led them to Jamila, the hostel’s warden, and Nadeem Abbas, a male nurse, who later confessed to killing the 20-year-old nurse.

The murder’s motive, police said, was an indecent video of Jamila that nurse Shabana had in her phone and was refusing to delete. Jamila confessed that in order to regain the video clip she managed to make Shabana unconscious and then got her raped by her accomplice.

After court orders, a team of experts from Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences [PIMS] Islamabad reached Gilgit and exhumed the body for re-examination.

“It was then revealed that she had not been subjected to autopsy before,” said an investigation officer.

On Monday, the court in its short order, however, acquitted the doctors.

In September, as the incident came to light, the health secretary and health services director were also handcuffed by police on court orders, as they had failed to take action against Dr Yaqoob who allegedly conducted a fake autopsy.

Published in The Express Tribune

Astore District in the eastern side of Nanga Parbat (8,126 m), is about 120 km long and 5,092 sq. km in area. The entrance of the valley is located about 60 km southeast of Gilgit with four side-valleys. The valley has more than 100 villages with a total population of 71,666 (Census Report 1998). The majority of people practice subsistence agriculture and livestock is the main source of livelihood complemented by seasonal work in down districts of the country.

Due to its diverse landscape and climatic conditions the valley provides excellent habitat for a variety of commercially important medicinal plants.

This paper quotes various studies on medicinal plant surveys and these are as follows:

A detailed medicinal plants’ survey in Astore, Shigar and Khaplu valleys reported 39 medicinally important plants out of which 21 were found in Astore. Similarly another survey found 34 medicinal plants in Bulashbar nallah, Astore whereas 77 medicinal plants were reported from Chilim, Burzil, Minimarg and Deosai in Astore valley in a separate study.

Chillam Choki, Astore
Since the British era until to-date, Astore valley has been the largest exporting area of medicinal plants in Gilgit Baltistan. Over-exploitation, free grazing, deforestation, conversion of forest and pastures to other land uses and lack of proper management system are major issues in the conservation of medicinal plants. Compared with forests and wildlife, most medicinal plants are able to give economic return in a shorter term, future prospects to make them sustainable income generators are good through the introduction of suitable participatory management system including marketing.

This paper by Ibrahim Khan seeks to explore the potential of the valley in terms of medicinal plants and identify NGOs willing to work for their promotion and to bring the attention of various stakeholders including herbal industries to the conservation of these valuable but fast deteriorating natural resources.

Rama Valley, which is home to Rama Lake, with basic facilities for visitors. It has a hotel called the PTDC, constructed by the government of Pakistan. Astore valley is a unique area for tourists to visit, surrounded by the high peaks of the far western Himalaya. Nearby the two river junction the village Louze, popular for apples,apricot, cherry and other fruits especially the wild almond oil. Louze a small village with literacy rate of about 95%, the only biggest power house for electricity supply up to 1000 kW to whole district approx since 1987, nearby Louze a peaks include Nanga Parbat, Shaigiri, Rupal Peak, Chongra Peak and Laila Peak (Rupal Valley). Astore Valley ascends from the Indus River Valley near Jaglot, Pakistan. Deosai plains are the highest plateau in himalayas and are most picturesque with a bowl shapped lake ,wild flowers,and a habitat of brown bear.The easiest route from Astore is via, Gorikot, Gudai,Chilum and then a track leads to this area with little steep hike.Its been declared a Natural park ,a special status to preserve its fora and fauna.
Astore valley has a moderate climate during summer. In winter it can snow up to 6 inches (15 cm) in the main valleys and up to 2–3 feet (60–90 cm) in the mountains. In Mirmalik valley it snows up to 6 feet (1.8 m) in February.
The main language spoken in the valley is Shina (also known as Tshina). Urdu, which is the National language of Pakistan, is the second most frequentlyz spoken language.There are different dialect of Shina spoken in the region. Since Astore has a history of modest tourist traffic in the summer months, local guides and police in Tarashing or Astore may speak some English.

Villages in Astore District

Two workers of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, who hailed from Gilgit-Baltistan, were shot dead in a Gulshan-i-Iqbal locality, police said on Sunday.

They said the bodies of the two men were found late on Saturday night at around 12.45am in Gulshan-i-Iqbal’s Block 4 near a private hospital.Gulshan-i-Iqbal SHO Dost Mohammad told Dawn that initially it appeared that the victims were killed somewhere else and the bodies were dumped at the scene. However, the police found two spent bullet casings at the crime-scene, which suggested that they were killed at the same place where their bodies were found. The two men were shot in the head, he added.

A memory card found on one of the victims helped the police in establishing the identities of the victims, said the police, adding that they were identified as Sikandar, son of Hamza, and Naseer, son of Kaseer Ahmed, both in their late twenties.

The police said that Sikandar was the MQM’s sector-in-charge for Gilgit-Baltistan and had arrived here about a week back.

They said a paternal uncle of Sikandar lived in Soldier Bazar No 2 and the victims were living there.

The bodies were shifted to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre for a post-mortem examination.

News Story was published in Dawn

Source (Tribune) The Gilgit police Sunday arrested a medical officer for conducting a fake autopsy of a nurse found dead in her room couple of months ago. Another doctor, wanted on same charges, was out of town and not arrested till last reports came in.

“The medical officer at the District Headquarter Hospital, Dr Yaqoob, has been arrested on court orders,” said a police official. Hospital sources, however, said that soon after his arrest, Yaqoob pretended to be a heart patient and had himself admitted in a hospital.

Shabana Akhtar, a young nurse from Astore valley, was found hanging from a ceiling fan in her room at the Gilgit Nursing Hostel in May. Initially police closed the case after a panel of doctors, headed by the medical officer Dr Yaqoob, examined the body and declared it a suicide.

However, after local media highlighted the issue, G-B’s Supreme Appellate Court took suo motu notice of the murder. The police launched a fresh investigation into the incident which eventually led them to Jamila, the hostel’s warden, and Nadeem Abbas, a male nurse. The two confessed to killing the 20-year-old nurse and staging her suicide. The murder’s motive, police said, was an “indecent” video of Jamila that Shabana had in her phone and was refusing to delete.

“A team of experts from Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences in Islamabad excavated the body and had it re-examined, which revealed that an autopsy had not been done before,” said an investigation officer.

Following the report, police issued arrest warrants for Dr Yaqoob and Dr Dilshad, he added. The male doctor was arrested; Dr Dilshad, however, was not arrested because she was reportedly out of the town.

A power project of 1.5 Mega Watt has been approved for upper region of Pareshing Mushke village, Gilgit Baltistan (GB) to meet the increasing energy requirements of thearea.

Executive Engineer Water & Power Fayyaz Alam while talking to APP on Tuesday said the location of Mushke village has been approved by the Planning and Development department and the project will be started by an open tender soon.

He said the estimated cost of this project is Rs. 20 million and it will take three to four years to complete.

Fayyaz Alam said that Assistant Chief Planning & Development department Israr Ahmed has approved the location and asked thecompetent authorities to further proceed.

He further said another power project of two Mega Watt in Shogora will be launched next month.

Source (Pamir Times) A nurse has committed suicide by hanging herself by the neck from ceiling of her room. She was living at Female Nurse Hostel of the region’s biggest heal care facility, for the past 2 years completing her training to become a Nursing Assistant.

The 22 year old nurse belonged to Chongra Village of Astore District, Gilgit – Baltistan.

There are some reports which declare the nursing trainee of be ‘mentally abnormal’. However, it is pertinent to note that similar tactics are also used to cover up cases of murder.

Public circle have expressed shock on the issue while also demanding fair investigation of the incident, to ensure justice.