PPP, PML-N, JI oppose delaying AJK polls

ISLAMABAD: Major political parties have rejected postponement of elections for the Legislative Assembly of the Azad Jammu and Kashmir for two months as proposed by the National Command Operation Center (NCOC) in view of the spreading Covid-19 pandemic. They demanded timely elections in the AJ&K.

“The PTI federal government wants to postpone the AJK elections as it has failed to get candidates for elections,” said PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari in a meeting with President PPP Azad Jammu and Kashmir Chaudhry Latif Akbar and opposition leader of AJK Assembly Chaudhry Yasin, who called on him at the Zardari House Islamabad on Monday.

Former prime minister Raja Pervez Ashraf was also present on the occasion. AJK PPP leaders briefed the PPP chairman about the political situation in the Valley and said that the federal government wanted to postpone the AJK election. Bilawal Bhutto Zardari directed to run a full-fledged campaign for free and fair elections in AJK and said that AJK is a stronghold of the PPP. He said that the PPP candidates will win the elections in AJK by a huge margin.

Meanwhile, former prime minister Raja Pervez Ashraf warned that if elections in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) were delayed or postponed, then it would weaken the Kashmir cause. “The NCOC has proposed delay in elections in AJK using corona as an excuse, while the real target was to postpone the elections in the AJK. The PPP rejects the decision to delay as it was an effort to rig the elections,” he said while addressing a press conference along with opposition leader in the AJK Assembly Chaudhry Yasin here at National Press Club. Ashraf said the government was delaying the elections in AJK to avoid the defeat there. He said the elections in AJK in 2006 were held even after the earthquake had hit AJK.

The former premier questioned that when the elections of the Gilgit-Baltistanwere held, was there no Covid-19 then. “The elections were held throughout the world even in the United States despite the Covid-19,” he said. He said the Constitution of AJK clearly stipulates holdilng of elections within 60 days prior to completion of assembly’s term. “The government is constitutionally bound to hold the elections in AJK before July 29,” he said.

Meanwhile addressing a press conference, Sindh Education Minister Saeed Ghani along with President AJK PPP Latif Akbar said that the elections in AJK cannot be postponed or delayed as the AJK constitution is very clear on the issue. He said that the NCOC and the government wanted to postpone the Azad Kashmir elections in the garb of Covid-19. “Any effort to postpone the elections clearly means that PTI is weak in Azad Kashmir,” he said. Chaudhry Latif Akbar also demanded the Election Commission to immediately announce the schedule of elections.

Meanwhile, PMLN leader and Azad Kashmir’s Minister for Endowments and Religious Affairs Raja Abdul Qayyum Khan, said that Azad Kashmir is a budding plant and should be allowed to flourish. Intervention in Azad Kashmir through NCOC is not acceptable.

Meanwhile, PTI leader Sardar Tanveer Ilyas has said that all conspiracies to postpone Azad Kashmir elections will be foiled. Abdul Rashid Turabi, former emir of Jamaat-e-Islami Azad Kashmir and parliamentary leader in the Azad Kashmir Assembly, meanwhile, said that the ruling party sitting in Islamabad should avoid to conspire postponement of elections in order to get their desired results.

Meanwhile, Minister for Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan Affairs Ali Amin Khan Gandapur categorically rejected the propaganda of Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) that federal government is planning to delay in upcoming general elections of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK).

In his reaction to the news conference of PPP senior leader and former prime minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf, the minister said neither his ministry nor the federal government had made any request to postpone the AJK polls.

“The National Command Operation Center (NCOC), as an independent institution, that makes its own decisions based on ground realities about the pandemic,” he clarified.

“It also lost elections in GB and now defeat would be their fate in the AJK elections, he added. He said that the situation on PPP side was that it did not have candidates to contest 50 percent seats in the upcoming Azad Jammu and Kashmir polls. “The PTI will also form a government in AJK with two-thirds majority like in the GB election,” he maintained.