(AKI/DAWN) - President Pervez Musharraf has unveiled a package of political, administrative and development reform for the disputed Northern Areas which borders China. In a public address where he inaugurated a power project on Tuesday, the president announced that the Northern Areas council had been given the status of a legislative assembly with powers to debate and pass its own budget. The existing council has 36 seats, 24 elected and 12 reserved for women and bureaucrats.Musharraf said that the deputy chief executive would from now on be called the chief executive with full administrative and financial authority and the chief executive would be elected by the new assembly. He announced plans for the remission of agricultural loans and a waiver of enterprise loans for small businesses. The president also announced a new commission to resolve boundary disputes between the Northern Areas and the North-West Frontier Province which has been troubled by bloody conflict between Pakistani forces and Islamic militants in recent weeks.
The Northern Areas region has so far been governed by the government of Pakistan through the Ministry of Kashmir Affairs and Northern Areas under the Northern Areas Legal Framework Order, 1994. India does not recognise the Northern Areas as part of Pakistan and refers to them as "Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK)".
Pakistan promised to hold a plebiscite in Kashmir to determine the will of the people, according to the three resolutions of the UN Security Council and the United Nations Commission. But the promised plebiscite has never been held and Pakistan maintains troops in the region.