The Hungarian British orientalist Gottlieb Wilhelm Leitner (G.W. Leitner), who came to Gilgit in the second half of the nineteenth century as an agent of the British Empire, has left something better than a travelogue. Leitner mentioned an old story of the legitimate rule of the Dards of Gilgit in his works on the Dards of Gilgit and Baltistan. It was mythological and, in its own way, more truthful regarding power than anything the Election Commission of Pakistan has ever published.
According to the legend, Azru Shemsher (son of Shemsher), the youngest of three fairy brothers, was sent to save the people of Gilgit from Shiribadatt, a tyrant cannibal. He was not endorsed by a party or a returning officer as an eligible candidate to be elected. It was tested when he fired an arrow across a mountain and hit a wild goat! On the spot, the astonished peasants called him their leader. He destroyed the tyrant with fire. He was acclaimed as king. From God's choice to people's approval to official proclamation, it is all predicated on something radical: people are in the process. Their amazement, their recognition, and their enthusiasm are their authority.
After the result was announced, nobody came from Rawalpindi, Lahore or Sindh to declare the result. During the Maharajas' rule, they sent people to rule the region as their pawns. By the mid-nineteenth century, the choice of rulers in Gilgit was no longer a matter of divine approval or a council of its community. For Srinagar, it was more of a logistical issue.
The Maharaja of Kashmir set up his own thanadars and zilladars to take care of the land. He held the legitimate descendants of Dard as hostages in Srinagar, not because he was cruel, but for its own sake. Should he require a governor in a disputed territory, he supplied the troops and equipped himself with the member of the family who was most likely to stay “subject to no one but the Maharaja” as Leitner himself put it.
The template was now complete. The names would change. The Maharaja would become the British Resident, the British Resident would become the Political Agent of Pakistan, the Political Agent would become the Prime Minister, empowered by the GB Order 2018 to function as the ultimate sovereign of the region. But the arrangement, the logic of an external hand placing a local face in position and calling it governance, has not changed at all.
In the midst of all this chaos, the banned Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan has fielded its candidate. Yes, they are allowed to contest the elections!
The election of 2026 is simply the latest appointment which is being covered on a ballot paper. The playing field for the political actors is selectively levelled for the favourites. This is not an unusual phenomenon in elections, as it has always been the case. In the Legislative Assembly elections of 2009, 2015, and 2020, many political candidates were jailed, and some were added to the list of missing persons. The allegations of rigging have always remained there.
But this year, the scale at which the un-levelling is occurring is unprecedented. The Leader of the Awami Workers Party, Baba Jan, and the candidate Fida Muhammad Nashad from the Pakistan Peoples Party have been disqualified on the alleged basis of “concealing facts.” The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf has been deprived of any political space.
The party's regional President and former Chief Minister, Khalid Khursheed, has been expelled from the region. The party's central leaders, Asad Qaiser, Junaid Akbar, and many others, are not even allowed to enter the region due to unannounced orders. In the midst of all this chaos, the banned Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan has fielded its candidate. Yes, they are allowed to contest the elections!
The Chief Election Commissioner of Gilgit-Baltistan asserted in his press conference that all political parties have violated the rules of the Election Code of Conduct, and as a result, they are banning all the central political leaders, federal ministers, and even the Prime Minister from visiting the region and engaging in any political activity. A day after this statement, the Federal Minister and Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz)’s central member, Khawaja Saad Rafique and Chairman of the Pakistan Peoples Party, Bilawal Bhutto, Asifa Bhutto, and retired Captain Safdar, arrived in Gilgit-Baltistan for political campaigning.
Making positive sense of all this democratic mockery is itself an irrational act. As the elections in Gilgit-Baltistan are not held with the general elections, which is the case with the four provinces, the favourites become very predictable. The rule of thumb is that whichever party holds the central (federal) government automatically gets to govern Gilgit-Baltistan as a free reward.
Although the Gilgit-Baltistan Order 2018 directly gives ultimate power to the Prime Minister of the country to decide and head the Legislative Assembly, the mirage of independent governance is sold to keep the people of the region engaged in a democratic theatre. The Queen of Britain used to hold ultimate sovereign powers in all of her colonies. Similarly, the Federal Government, especially the Prime Minister, is the Queen/King of this region.
The voters are blindsided by the latter, as they know they can never get the rights due to the most illogical reason that has been adopted/memorised by the policy analysts of think tanks
After the Eighteenth Amendment (okay, sure, it will be repealed soon, but listen!), the provinces are given independent authority on matters of legislation (subject to exceptions) and governance. Being federally administered, the region is not even given the legal status of a federally administered region, let alone that of a province.
Those who are allowed to campaign freely are doing it in the normal way, the unfortunate ones. The elections in Gilgit-Baltistan have been preceded by illusory promises (of provincial status), regional development, and blatant claims of making the region “Switzerland and even Lahore” for the last four Legislative Assembly elections.
The same script of political campaigning is followed in every sort of election around the world. No political party provides any manifesto, let alone a copy-paste of the same that is given at the national level. The candidates poison the political sphere by using derogatory language against their opponents and their family members. The contents of their political speeches cannot be penned down due to the filth they contain. It has become a spectacle, a place to show how much hatred you can portray against the candidates (and yes, their family members).
The voters know that the part of Lahore these candidates are promising to build is not Gulberg, DHA, or Lake City, but the neglected and true Lahore that is what is now referred to as Old Lahore; where citizens are deprived of their basic needs, access to education, and even if they by chance get the grounding part of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, they die of the harsh heat of the ruthless summer as they cannot afford to pay the bills to let the cooling machine keep moving its wings to prevent their breaths from getting stopped.
In spite of witnessing this political theatre, most of the voters always remain optimistic about change. They partake in the political gatherings of the candidates, engage in debates with the voters of the opposing candidates, and introspect to “choose” a suitable candidate. The candidates go to the homes of their potential swing voters to offer them rights and money.
The voters are blindsided by the latter, as they know they can never get the rights due to the most illogical reason that has been adopted/memorised by the policy analysts of think tanks: that the political status of the region should be maintained as undecided until the plebiscite on the Kashmir issue is conducted by the United Nations (laughter all around). The myth of the plebiscite has long been shattered, and the final nail in the coffin was driven by Indian Prime Minister Modi by changing the status of Indian-occupied Kashmir. So, many take the money. A few choose to remain liberated and hungry as a consequence of upholding their principles.
Political participation is the only lever the people of Gilgit-Baltistan actually hold, which is precisely why so much effort goes into making sure they cannot pull it properly. The repulsion being engineered is not accidental. A citizen who stops voting is a citizen who stops being inconvenient.
So no, the answer is not to stay home. Not yet. The solution is to be present in such numbers that the theft will be embarrassing, easily seen, and costly. Make the rigging challenging. Make it a challenge.
The machinery proved to be a blessing for the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf in 2020. It is now against them. The machine is not loyal to anyone; it has a set of instructions. If you know that, it will make it easier to understand.
As for whom I am casting my vote, I genuinely do not know yet. Perhaps I will find out after the elections, when I discover which candidate the presiding officer decided I voted for. Would I? Well, the only agency that is exercised in elections is… the one at Rawalpindi!