AJK's real issues ignored by major parties in the polls

With barely a week to go before elections for the 41 seats of the Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) Legislative Assembly, verbal duels between the major political parties have not only intensified but have also led to violence in some areas. This has vitiated the peaceful political atmosphere of this quasi autonomous region.

On July 9, armed clashes between the supporters of PPP and PML-N in Haveli district caused the death of two persons and injuries to seven others, including the PML-N candidate from the area. This was the major incident in the run up to the July 21 elections that has skyrocketed hostilities and pitted the electorate against each other.

A political battle that should have been politically fought and remained confined to Azad Kashmir has however moved past the boundaries of Azad Kashmir. It is now being fought by the lieutenants of PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif and PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari in Islamabad because the central leadership of both parties appears to have made this election a matter of prestige.

Some of the statements by Mr Bhutto-Zardari in his public rallies in AJK before the holy month of fasting and response by Pervaiz Rasheed, Chaudhry Barjees Tahir, Dr Asif Saeed Kirmani etc. were not only fatuous they also gave the impression that the AJK elections had been hijacked by the Pakistan based parties.

“Modi ko jo yar hai ghadar hai, ghadar hai... Modi ke yar ko aik dhakka aur do” (Modi’s friend is a traitor and should be thrown away), Mr Bhutto-Zardari has repeatedly shouted at his rallies in Kashmir while referring to PM Sharif.

Outbursts like this have left a bad taste in the mouth for thinking people who can understand that animus towards his political rivals and not pain for the suffering Kashmiris has dictated Mr Bhutto-Zardari's acerbic speeches during the election campaign.

“Since Kashmir issue no more sells in our elections the Pakistani leaders should not invoke it in their fiery speeches… Exploiting local sentiments with such statements may serve their personal agenda but not that of their party or voters in this territory,” says Syed Arif Bahar, an accredited Kashmiri analyst.

Prior to Mr Bhutto-Zardari, federal ministers were also reported by the vernacular press to have vilified AJK Prime Minister Chaudhry Abdul Majeed in their rallies.

However, of late the fight has shifted to Islamabad. PPP leaders, notable among them being Raja Pervez Ashraf, Qamar Zaman Kaira and Aitzaz Ahsan, are using the elections as a stick to beat the PML-N with. 

On its part, the PML-N alleges that the PPP is trying to create a smokescreen by raising hue and cry against the alleged involvement of the federal government.

Hurling allegations against federal government is actually aimed at diverting public attention from their corruption and dismal performance in AJK, the PML-N maintains.

However, one is tempted to ask why AJK has suddenly become so crucial for both the parties? Did they feel similar pain for this area before the election atmosphere picked up? The answer is not in the affirmative.

The PPP was in power in Pakistan from 2008 to 2013. In 2011, it also formed government in AJK. However, over the next two years, when there were same parties in power in Islamabad and Muzaffarabad, AJK’s genuine issues were not resolved.

In fact, Rs55 billion meant for the post earthquake reconstruction is said to have been shifted to other heads by the PPP government, an allegation federal minister Barjees Tahir also corroborates.

The PPP amended the Constitution of Pakistan in 2010, devolving powers to provinces and empowering the elected chief executive. But AJK was not considered for similar constitutional reforms, its yearnings for the same notwithstanding. It was because the AJK Council, an institution headed by the prime minister of Pakistan and dubbed in AJK as a parallel government, suited the rulers in Islamabad in its present shape.

On its part, the PML-N has been in power for the past three years and even though its 2013 election manifesto also pledged empowerment of the government in Muzaffarabad no step towards this end was taken.

Not only that PM Sharif could not find time to resolve this issue, he did not properly attend his party’s AJK chapter for a long time.  

However, with the advent of elections the PML-N is obsessed with bringing its AJK chapter to power. 

“Perhaps PM Sharif who has been afflicted by many problems at home wants to use the victory in AJK, like that of Gilgit Baltistan and some by-elections in Pakistan, as a proof of his popularity,” says Mr Bahar.  

On the other hand, the top leadership of PPP, which has exercised full authority in AJK over the past five years, believes that the defeat in AJK polls will cause it a lot of embarrassment across the country. And that is why it too is out to fight this war with full vigor. 

“Allegations, counter allegations, mudslinging and violence as means to achieve political goals has generally been the hallmark of Pakistani politics but now the offshoots of Pakistani political parties have brought the malaise to this region as well,” says analyst Khizar Hayat Abbasi.

“Azad Kashmir has not only been one of the Pakistan’s most peaceful areas since its liberation but has also been regarded as politically stable region over the past three decades. But political tensions and hotly contested elections may challenge both of these assumptions,” he fears.

Analysts believe and rightly so that involvement of Pakistani leaders and their traducements  against each other have sent the actual issues of the state out of the spotlight.

“With present limited constitutional powers, the government in Muzaffarabad is virtually controlled and run by the bureaucracy in Islamabad, leaving the state government toothless in many key administrative and constitutional matters,” Mr Abbasi says.

“Ironically we haven’t heard these two main parties say anything on these issues publicly… Their manifestoes may have vague commitments but their past conduct is poxy,” he adds.

Mr Bahar says that political squabbling has also overshadowed other issues like load-shedding, agreements on and share in the profits of power projects, unemployment of enormous scale and reconstruction of basic infrastructure devastated by 2005 earthquake.

“Even the mainstream media is not holding serious debate on these issues.. Instead it also seems to be content with the rhetoric of these leaders,” he laments.

A sizeable section of society believes that at a time when unprecedented mass resistance in India-held Kashmir has got national and international focus, power struggle in AJK in this fashion can negatively influence the Kashmir movement and provide India validation to crush it with brute force.

Interestingly, the PTI, which is a new party in AJK, has so far kept itself away from falling-out with political rivals. However, PTI chief Imran Khan too is to come out with a categorical stand on AJK’s genuine issues, other than ritual criticism of Mr Sharif.

Tariq Naqash