By Our Correspondent

  GILGIT: The Northern Areas Transport Company (NATCO) is a national organization with the honour of having international service but some elements in the region are unable to digest its success and frequently try to defame it by issuing statements to the local press.
However, NATCO has gained a reputation at the national level and the elements
Trying to defame it will never succeed in their design.
These views were expressed by Mr Zafar Iqbal, the managing director of NATCO, while talking to this correspondent here.Discussing the problems in transporting what to Gilgit-Baltistan, he said that from July to September the Karakoram Highway remained closed due to the devastating rains and floods while at the end of September the supply of wheat was stopped due to non-payment of dues. Even under these circumstances, NATCO succeeded in transporting 505,310 bags of wheat to the region. He said that those who were criticizing the company actually wanted to give the contract of the wheat supply to private parties. However, he said that if the contract was given to the private parties, they would never be able to even transport half of the stock.

 By Our Coresspondent

 GILGIT: The Gilgit-Baltistan Supreme Appellate Court took strong exception to a Gilgit-based NGO Sina Health and Welfare society accused of sending nearly 50 children abroad for adoption over the years without fulfilling legal formalities. The children were sent without birth certificates. The two-member bench, comprising Chief Judge Justice Nawaz Abbasi and Justice Mohammad Yaqoob, heard the suo motu case that was brought to the court's notice by the National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra).
The NGO was represented by a senior lawyer and the chairman of the NGO, Sher Baz, also attended the hearing. Nadra was represented by an official of its legal affairs department and the police department was represented by DIG police Farman Ali.
The lawyer representing the NGO told the apex court that the organisation had been involved with this humanitarian issue over the past 15 years and that so far, it had placed 103 children, including orphans and abandoned children from Gilgit-Baltistan, under the United Nations convention on child rights.
He said that at present, one child had been adopted by a family in the UK, eight in the US and about 40 in Canada. The chief judge asked the Nadra representative to verify the whereabouts of these children. The advocate said that whenever the NGO received an abandoned child, they report the case to the police and provide shelter to the child before giving them up for adoption. When the judge asked how many babies they had received so far, the advocate answered in vague terms, saying 'some'.
The DIG police denied any knowledge of the NGO and said that he had not received any report from them about abandoned children, when he was asked by court to confirm the NGO's statements. Justice Abbasi remarked that developed countries had adoption laws and said: "We will have to see if our courts allow such adoption methods."
The Nadra representative said that birth certificates of the children adopted by foreigners had been sent abroad without official sanction. The chief judge said that this was an offence. The NGO's advocate said that the NGO keeps a track and that they have maintained a record of all adoptions. The chief justice asked them to submit complete data before the court by the end of the month.-PT

Baang Report

 GILGIT: Instead of giving them rights which are available to other government employees in provinces of Pakistan, the federal government has decided to deduct tax from the salaries of public sector employees in Gilgit-Baltistan.
It may be pointed out here that in Gilgit-Baltistan, there are no labour laws implemented neither there are labour courts where employees can go against violation of any right. As a result, for the last over six decades government employees in the region have remained deprived of their basic rights of job security and faced exploitation.
After bringing the 2009 package in which Islamabad claimed that it was going to ensure all the rights of the masses, the rulers have continued open robbery on their rights. The latest move has come as a bolt from the sky when the government decided to tax the employees at a time when the common people were finding it hard to manage two time bread for their families due to the rising inflation.
Besides, imposition of tax in GB is illegal and unconstitutional as the area has so far remained a tax-free zone. This is also a fact that GB is not a constitutional part of Pakistan and is an internationally-recognized disputed territory to be resolved under the UN resolutions.
People have condemned the government move and asked it to withdraw the decision.