Polling began in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir’s (PoK’s) Gilgit-Baltistan region on Monday to elect 24 legislators.
Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) have fielded their candidates in all the constituencies, while Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) are contesting on 22 seats, media reported. The Majils Wahdat-e-Muslimeen (MWM), All Pakistan Muslim League (APML), Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam Fazl (JUI-F), Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT), and Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) are the other parties contesting the polls.
India has criticised the elections currently being held in Gilgit terming it as an attempt by Pakistan “to cover-up its forcible and illegal occupation of the regions” and “to deny the people of PoK their political rights.”
The Gilgit-Baltistan region remains a nodal issue in the Indo-Pak dynamic. Here’s a primer on why the polls caused a war of words between the two neighbours.
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