Two belligerent members of Azad Jammu and
Kashmir (AJK) cabinet reconciled with each other on Thursday at the
bidding of a representative of a central leader of Pakistan Peoples Party who
calls the shots in this region.
Senior minister Chaudhry Mohammad Yasin had an
altercation with minister for finance, planning and development Chaudhry Latif
Akbar at the Wednesday’s quarterly review meeting of development budget on
seating arrangements in the presence of Prime Minister Chaudhry Abdul Majeed, seven
other cabinet members and senior government officials.
Following the acrimonious exchange, the finance minister
had walked out of meeting in protest and was followed by four other cabinet
colleagues. The meeting was postponed immediately afterwards.
After the unpleasant incident, Mr Akbar rushed to his
office where he was joined by around a dozen ministers and a large number of
his supporters in the ruling party. In the meanwhile, Prime Minister Majeed
also reached there in a bid to pacify his angry finance minister. However, an
unbending minister told him that he could not continue in the cabinet in
present circumstances.
Later in the afternoon, Mr Majeed visited Mr Akbar’s
residence as well to assuage his anger, but could not get a much favourable
response.
On the other hand, the senior minister, who holds the lucrative
portfolios of local government and rural development (LG&RD) and hydropower
generation, was also aghast at ransacking of his office and stressed for stern
action against the miscreants who he believed were closely associated with the
finance minister.
According to credible sources, in a meeting with prime
minister on Wednesday in the presence of some other cabinet colleagues, Mr
Yasin had also hurled corruption allegations at the finance minister. His
supporters in his hometown in Kotli and Bhimber also took out rallies and
condemned what they alleged biased attitude of finance minister.
However, things started to take a change for better
after Chaudhry Mohammad Riaz, a representative of Ms Faryal Talpur MNA, arrived
in Muzaffarabad on Wednesday evening and held separate meetings with Mr Akbar
and Mr Yasin at their residences to defuse the situation.
Mr Riaz, who is a resident of Faisalabad, was an
adviser to Sindh chief minister during his previous stint, but was always found
in Islamabad. In December last year, he was appointed as an adviser to AJK
prime minister with the status of minister. While two other advisers, appointed
through the same notification, were administered oath by the prime minister, Mr
Riaz is however yet to take the oath. Nevertheless, he is mentioned as ‘senior
adviser’ in all handouts issued by the AJK prime minister’s office.
On
Thursday, Mr Akbar and Mr Yasin went to the capital’s only five star hotel,
where Mr Riaz was putting up, to disseminate the message of reconciliation
between them. Five other ministers were also present on the occasion, according
to a group photo released to the media.
Later, the ruling Peoples Party’s parliamentary party
held a meeting in the PM House, which according to an official handout was
“specially attended by party’s representative and senior adviser Chaudhry
Mohammad Riaz on the direction of Ms Faryal Talpur.”
“At the meeting, the senior minister and finance
minster announced removal of resentment (against each other) and vowed to play
a vigorous role for service to people, development of the region and Kashmir freedom
struggle,” the handout said.
Ends
No comments:
Post a Comment