Anjuman-e- ImamiaBaltistan Syed BaqirHussain has said that Ajuman-e-Imamia has convened an All Parties Conference (APC) over the proposed land reforms Act-2024 and all stake-holders have been invited for attending the said conference. Opposition leader in the regional Assembly Muhammad KazimMeasam has said that he would attend the said conference and would point-out the mistakes/errors in the proposed draft bill. Where-as education minister of the regional government/PPP senior leader GhulamShahazd Aga has said that if invitation would be extended to him, he would be un-able to attend the said conference as he was proceeding to Islamabad. According tosources, proposals prepared by the legal fraternity and others regarding the proposed land reforms would be presented before the APC and deliberations would be made over the proposals during the conference. President of the Anuman-e-ImamiaBaltistan Syed BaqirHussaini has said that the aim and object of the APC was to carried out the consultation amongst the stake-holders and developed the consensus in this regard, so that the proposed reforms could be made acceptable to all stake-holders and people of the area.
Land reforms were consideration for the long-time in the region and incumbent government of the area had constituted a 16 Members committee to examine the all proposals prepared during the tenure of previous governments of the area and the said committee had approved the recommendations, which were subsequently approved by the cabinet of the region. When the draft bill was approved by the cabinet, different stake holders including the people of Baltistan region have raised their concerns and reservations over the draft bill due to which the said bill could not be presented on the floor of regional Assembly. Now the Anjuman-e-ImamiaBaltistan President Syed BaqirHussain has said that his Anjuman has convened an APC over the proposed land reforms and all-stake holders have bee invited to attend the said conference, where-as aim and objective of the said conference was to develop consensus amongst the stake-holders over the draft bill. He said that proposals /amendments prepared by the legal fraternity and others would be discussed during the said conference, so that the proposed land reforms could be made acceptable to all-stake holders and people of the area. It may be pertinent to mention here that the draft land reforms bill-2024 approved by the cabinet of the region was full of legal and technical flaws and it was pointed out in these pages that until and unless the errors/mistakes may not be removed from the draft bill, it may not be acceptable to the people of the area. It was also pointed out in these pages that it was imperative to replace/ substitute the Nautor Rules-1978-80 issued by the Ministry of Kashmir Affairs through a proper piece of legislation, so that ownership rights could be conferred to the people of the area accordingly because it was constant claim of the people of the area that they were the real owners of the lands, forests, pastures and mountains situated in the region, but the administration of the area was not accepting their claim.We may expect that the APC of the Baltistan region would suggest proposals pertaining to land reforms, which would be acceptable to all stake-holders and proposed land reforms Act-2024 would be amended accordingly before its presentation on the floor of regional Assembly
