AJK govt wants to avoid general election fearing defeat: Raja Farooq

Lahore: Leader of the Opposition in the Azad Jammu & Kashmir (AJK) Legislative Assembly Raja Muhammad Farooq Haider Wednesday said that the AJK government wanted to avoid the upcoming general election as it feared defeat.

Talking to Pakistan Television, he said there were massive irregularities in the voters lists and the AJK government wanted to conduct election on the same.The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz AJK had demanded scrutiny of the voters lists but the government did not want the election commission to do the job as it had not provided funds to it (commission) while having sufficient finances in the treasury.

Raja Farooq said the PML-N wanted a free and fair election in the AJK as it was vital to strengthen democratic institutions. Since there was no provision in the AJK Constitution for a care-taker set-up, so it was the responsibility of the sitting government to hold election in a transparent manner, he said.

He alleged that massive corruption had been committed by the present AJK government and Prime Minister Chaudhry Abdul Majeed himself was involved in committing malpractices in many projects of public welfare.

The opposition leader said that participants at a public gathering in Nakyal were provoked against the PML-N and then a clash occurred between the workers of two parties. He said the AJK Pakistan Peoples Party ministers had tabled a no-confidence resolution against their party’s prime minister, but Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif came to his rescue. He had always supported the AJK government in every difficult situation.

He said the AJK government had converted Public Service Commission (PSC) into a ‘Jiyala Commission’ to give special benefits to their workers. He wished for such an election in the AJK which could be lauded by the people of occupied Kashmir too.