Bureau Report
Gilgit, May 8: In a ruling that has sent shockwaves through Gilgit-Baltistan’s political landscape, the Election Appellate Tribunal has disqualified Baba Jan, president of the left-wing Awami Workers Party (AWPGB) and a high-profile candidate from Hunza, from contesting the 2026 general elections for the GB Assembly.
Judge Raja Shakeel Ahmed of the Election Appellate Tribunal also struck down the nominations of former Chief Executive Fida Muhammad Nashad and Abdul Qayum, triggering outrage that has since spilled violently across social media.
The tribunal’s ruling is being widely perceived as the latest chapter in a troubling pattern of political victimisation.
What has further inflamed public sentiment is the role of Emaan Shah, an Istehkam-e-Pakistan Party candidate and former adviser to CM Gulber Khan, who originally filed the complaint against Baba Jan.
Along with two others, Shah had approached the Returning Officer in Hunza filing an objection on Baba Jan’s nomination papers, but it was rejected. He appealed to the Appellate Tribunal which accepted his plea.
Baba Jan was disqualified for concealing his conviction in his nomination papers, thereby failing to meet legal requirements. Nashad was barred under Article 62(1)(f) of the Election Act for hiding property-related facts. Abdul Qayyum, candidate for GBA-13 Astore-1, was also disqualified for being a bank defaulter.
Earlier, the tribunal had disqualified former Education Secretary Syed Hadi under Article 62(1)(f) for concealing facts about cases pending with NAB, stating that failure to provide complete and accurate information in nomination papers violates constitutional requirements.
Calls for justice for Baba Jan and Nashad have become a chorus of mounting anger and deep distrust in an electoral process that many now fear is being manipulated long before a single vote is cast.
Social and political activists, including Khalid Khursheed, former Chief Minister and president Tehreek-i-Insaf Gilgit-Baltistan, have criticised the ruling. They have accused the tribunal and the regional government of acting as instruments of selective justice, deliberately keeping genuine popular voices out of the fray. They are demanding immediate intervention to restore the candidacy of Baba Jan. They accused the election commission of excluding genuine popular candidates out of the election.
For a region already deprived of genuine representation, constitutional and democratic rights is not just a political crisis, it is a wound festering to democracy itself.
What’s Baba Jan’s crime?
Baba Jan along with 16 activists spent nearly a decade in prison after their arrest on August 11, 2011, following a police firing that killed a man and his son at Aliabad Hunza to clear the KKH for the entourage of then CM Mehdi Shah now Governor, an incident that ignited violent protests across Hunza. Their release came only after a seven-day sit-in on KKH by family members of the imprisoned activists in Aliabad, Hunza, which finally forced the GB interim government to free them on November 27, 2020. By then, Baba Jan had served ten years of a staggering 71-year sentence handed down by an Anti-Terrorist Court judge, now the Chief Election Commissioner, on charges of terrorism and inciting riots.
Many believe his real crime was speaking up for the victims of the Atabad Lake disaster and fighting for the rights of Gilgit-Baltistan’s working class over their own resources. That same relentless struggle continues today. Activists like Ehsan Ali, chairman of the Awami Action Committee, Shabbir Mayar, Waheed Hasan, Asghar Shah and others remain behind bars for peaceful dissent. Even their comrades who had staged a peaceful protest sit-in along with their family members were arrested and booked under the ATA on May 6.
And now, with the election just weeks away, opposition parties and commentators are pointing to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s one-day visit to GB on Thursday, replete with development project announcements and laptop distributions, as a brazen violation of the election code of conduct.
Opponents call it “pre-poll rigging,” accusing federal minister Amir Muqam and other government functionaries of manipulating the playing field.
In the midst of this firestorm, one candidate, Bakhtawar Shah from GBA-20 Ghizer-2, was declared eligible.
The Tribunal dismissed objections against Shah, ruling that allegations against him were ‘unsubstantiated’ and upholding his nomination.
Separately, Justice Ahmed had allowed candidates Barkat Jamil former Parliamentary Secretary for Health, (GBA-14 Astore-2) and Sher Azam Khan (GBA-19 Ghizer-1) to contest the 2026 elections.
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