Rs 4.2m drawn for PM's upcoming foreign tour

Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) Prime Minister Raja Farooq Haider is all set to proceed to some European countries for almost two weeks later this week “to highlight Kashmir issue and interact with the Kashmiri diaspora,” according to an official notification circulated on Monday.

The notification states that the 3-member delegation led by Prime Minister Haider would visit United Kingdom, France, Belgium, Spain and Italy from October 6 to October 18 (including journey days).

“The delegation shall visit London to meet with Kashmiri Community. Later on the Prime Minister will move to France to participate in Kashmir Conference on the invitation of Ms Binet Stephanie from 7 to 8 October. Thereafter, the PM will participate in the events of ‘2017 Kashmir-EU Week’ from 9 to 10 October at Brussels (Belgium) under arrangement of Kashmir Council-EU. The PM will also visit Spain and Italy to interact with Kashmiri Community from 13 to 16 October,” reads the shoddily drafted notification.
The notification was silent about Ms Biter - the inviter in France.

The delegation includes senior minister Chaudhry Tariq Farooq and additional principal staff officer to PM Raja Arshad Hussain.

“Expenditures on the tour will be incurred against the budgetary head ‘Foreign Tour’ of PM Secretariat and will be regulated as per financial concurrence of the Finance Department,” added the notification.

However, there was no mention of the sanctioned amount in the notification, in a departure from the practice adopted by previous governments.

Sources in the PM secretariat told this scribe on condition of anonymity that the current year’s budget had an allocation of Rs 2.5 million for PM’s foreign tours.

However, as the expenses of the upcoming tour were estimated at Rs 4.2 million, the amount had been withdrawn in advance from (the funds of) Jammu Kashmir Liberation Cell (JKLC), after obtaining a formal concurrence from the Finance Department, sources said.

The prime minister happens to be the chairman of JKLC – an institution raised in late eighties to “highlight Kashmir issue at national and international level.” It meets its expenditures from what is called ‘Kashmir Cess,’ levied on all salaries drawn and payments (of contracts) made from the AJK exchequer, as well as on sale of properties.

Most of the expenses on foreign tours of government functionaries, in the name of projecting Kashmir cause, are secretly drawn from JKLC.

In 2016-17, the funds earmarked for foreign tours of AJK president and prime minister were Rs 2.5 million each. However, while the PM spent Rs 3.5 million the president splashed out Rs 3.9 million during the previous fiscal year.

But apart from these funds, the president had expended an additional Rs 1.55 million from the JKLC funds on his foreign tours in 2016-17, sources said.

In the first three months of the current fiscal year, the president has so far claimed Rs 4.1 million from JKLC funds for his foreign tours, while the premier has just drawn Rs 4.2 million for his upcoming visit, sources added.

Interestingly, the senior minister has only recently returned to the seat of government after a month long leave for a personal foreign tour to UK and some other foreign countries.

When this scribe asked him over telephone what had necessitated another tour to the same countries at official expense, he maintained that since he had been engaged with the Kashmir Council-EU for a long time, he was invited by the organization to attend its event in Brussels.

“However, I am yet to decide whether I will proceed or not,” the senior minister said.

In the absence of the prime minister, the senior minister functions as acting premier and AJK is abuzz with reports that both do not enjoy “very cordial relations” for quite some time.

Interestingly, as some people shared the notification on social media on Monday, there was a torrent of comments criticizing “wasteful” spending of taxpayers’ money on “junkets” on the pattern of previous PPP government. 

“I wish #AJKPM remembered his own views as opposition leader about wasteful expenses on foreign junkets in the name of #Kashmir,” tweeted Naeem Wani, a social media activist.

It may be recalled that in his previous 9-months stint as AJK premier, Mr Haider had not undertaken any foreign tour.

Instead, he was often heard criticize such tours that he then maintained only burdened the exchequer of the cash strapped region.

This scribe made several attempts to contact prime minister’s press secretary Raja Wasim for his reaction, but his all three cellular numbers were found switched off. 

Tariq Naqash

Cash-strapped AJK plans to buy new luxurious vehicles for ministers, bureaucrats

Facing a revenue shortfall of around 7 billion in the current fiscal year, the Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) government is reportedly contemplating buying over three dozen new luxurious vehicles for cabinet members and senior bureaucrats, notwithstanding growing criticism of “reckless extravagance” with the exchequer of the cash-strapped region in this regard.

According to well placed sources, the preliminary process has been initiated by the concerned authorities for purchase of as many as 16 reconditioned 4200cc Parado jeeps worth Rs 10 million each and 23 brand new 1800cc Toyota Corolla Grande cars worth Rs 2.5 million each.

A 4700cc Land Cruiser Jeep worth Rs 25 million is also being separately purchased for Prime Minister Raja Farooq Haider, sources added.

Approval to purchase of new vehicles for ministers was given by the cabinet on April 18 after the ex-agenda item was tabled by none other than the prime minister.

However, as yet it’s not clear as to where the funds will be arranged from for the “unwarranted shopping” as the Finance Department is already struggling hard to seek additional funds from Islamabad to reduce revenue shortfall that sources say has made it difficult for the government to pay salaries and pensions before Eid.

The decision to buy new vehicles comes amid an overlong wait for a comprehensive transport policy dealing with purchase, allotment and use of official vehicles.

Misuse of vehicles a chronic issue

According to conservative estimates, there are more than 6000 official vehicles in the 13297 sq. km AJK territory, which has scanty fiscal resources of its own and (thus) banks mostly on grants from the Centre to meet most of its needs. 

Due to the alleged prodigality of successive governments, the “accumulative shortfall” since 2009-10 has soared to about Rs 25 billion and as a result payment of salaries and pensions turns out be a thorn in the side of the government every month, particularly after it exceeds its overdraft limit of Rs 4.5 billion and the State Bank stops clearance of its cheques.

Under the existing transport policy of 1993, cabinet members are entitled to two official vehicles, while the secretaries, including the chief secretary, are entitled to one official vehicle.

However, hardly a few secretaries follow this rule, while the majority brazenly possesses two to three additional vehicles.

Similar is the case with senior police officers, almost all of whom are in possession of two to three extra vehicles.

Official vehicles are being occupied even by those officials who do not qualify for their allotment.

The logbooks of such vehicles are maintained fictitiously, sources say, adding, wear and tear of official vehicles is another big source of embezzlement of millions of rupees every year in the absence of an effective monitoring system.

PML-N government’s claim

Since the alleged unjustified purchase of official vehicles and their unauthorized allotment and unchecked use had drawn scathing criticism from media and civil society in PPP rule, the PML-N government had vowed to address this issue on a priority basis.

At a cabinet meeting in October last year, it had decided to replace the existing transport policy with a new one.

However, ever since assuming office, the PML-N government has not enforced even any cosmetic measure as a precursor to a stringent policy about the allotment and utilization of official vehicles, lamented the sources.

A source told this scribe that after the cabinet decision, secretaries were asked to furnish details about the vehicles in their respective departments within one week. But none of them complied and none was made accountable for the lapse.   

“It appears the announcement regarding transport policy was just an eye-wash because neither the cabinet members nor the bureaucrats want enforcement of a tough policy that can eventually deprive them of the boon of retaining additional vehicles,” remarked one official on condition of anonymity.  

In December 2011, the then PPP government had constituted a 4-member committee, led by the then additional chief secretary general Aizaz Nasim, to collect details about official transport and indicate the officers using official vehicles beyond entitlement. The committee was also tasked to submit proposals for implementation of (existing) transport policy to control misuse of official vehicles. 

The report, a copy of which is available with this scribe, points out abuse of vehicles in detail and suggests 35 measures to arrest the unlawful practices in this regard.

However, the PPP government sat over the report over the next five years. 

“That report was enough to pull the plug on misuse of official vehicles. But, when it comes to arresting misuse of official vehicles, it seems that Raja Farooq Haider government is not different than Chaudhry Abdul Majeed led previous PPP government,” commented the official.

“When the public representatives, including the prime minister, are not ready to surrender extra vehicles, you should not expect the bureaucracy to withdraw unwarranted privileges,” he added.

When contacted by this scribe, Finance Minister Dr Najeeb Naqi dispelled the impression that the PML-N government was following the previous PPP regime regarding misuse of official vehicles.

“It were we who reclaimed many official vehicles from Zardari House after assuming office,” he said, but didn’t provide the number.

He claimed that a cabinet sub-committee tasked to revisit transport policy would present its recommendations in next cabinet meeting.

When asked if the committee will suggest some toughest measures to control the unlawful trend of misusing official vehicles, he said since he was not its member he could not say anything about it with certainty.

“We will ensure that the criteria for allotment and use of official vehicles is strictly followed,” he said.

Tariq Naqash 

AJK Ehtesab Bureau summons Women University VC in appointments case

The vice chancellor and some other officials of a nascent public sector university in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) have been summoned by the Ehtesab Bureau to record their statements on alleged irregularities and favoritism in appointments and other administrative matters, it has been learnt.

Dr Muhammad Haleem Khan, Vice Chancellor (VC) of the Women University of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (WUAJK), Bagh, and Registrar Dr Mohammad Riaz had been asked to appear before the bureau’s director (investigations) Sardar Ilyas Khan in Muzaffarabad respectively on May 16 and 17, while members of the varsity’s scrutiny/selection committee as well as a complainant would appear on May 18, according to the relevant sources.

The WUAJK was established by an Act of the AJK Assembly in 2014, and the then secretary higher education Dr Saima Shahjehan was appointed its VC as a stopgap arrangement.

Dr Haleem was appointed as her successor on May 2, 2014 for a three-year term.

 According to a comprehensive complaint filed in October last year by Shahzad Khan, a civil society activist from Bagh, the WUAJK officials had made a “mockery” of the rules as well as judgments of the AJK Supreme Court in making appointments against as many as 83 gazetted posts.

The advertisement for permanent appointment against these B-16 and B-17 posts in 32 different departments was published in January 2015, in response to which some 500 candidates had submitted applications.

The WUAJK hired National Testing System (NTS) for recruitment, which conducted written exam in September 2015 while interviews were held after two months.

The record submitted by the complainant, almost all of which was also obtained by this scribe, and an initial inquiry into it revealed that the varsity had “thrown dust into the eyes of the candidates” by recruiting the already serving employees “in a questionable manner.”

As the WUAJK had adopted the rules, regulations, policies and statues of the University of AJK, Muzaffarabad, to run its affairs, it was required to invite the top five successful candidates in written exam for interviews.

However, following the written exam results, the WUAJK invited all candidates for interviews allegedly to ensure that the favorites, most of them already serving employees, were not left out.

Candidates were shocked to see that almost all of the permanent appointees were those who had failed to make it to the top five in the written exam, “in what amounted to frustrating rather mocking the perceived purpose of involving NTS in recruitment process.”

In one of the several such examples, a candidate who was beyond 40th position in written exam was also declared successful.

Similarly, a candidate with one 3^rd division also got permanent appointment, even though his competitors included those who had secured first divisions throughout their academic career.

Under the Higher Education Commission (HEC) rules, a person with single third division in educational career cannot be hired as faculty member.

However, in order to accommodate favorites, the WUAJK administration misled the HEC to obtain relaxation of this rule, by citing “non-availability” of faculty in the “hard area.”

Even a candidate, who had secured only 43 marks below the passing criteria of WUAJK, was gifted with appointment against the post of programmer.

The complainant had cited several other cases of favoritism and irregularities.

For example, an ex-serviceman was appointed as chief security officer on June 25, 2014, but he was assigned the task of making purchases for the varsity on June 10, two weeks before his appointment.

Sources said that initial investigation into the complaint was conducted by director (complaints) Amjad Minhas and on his report the case was transferred to director (investigations) Sardar Ilyas Khan by Ehtesab Bureau Chairman Raja Ghazanfar Ali.

Sources also claimed that WUAJK administration had planned to stall bureau’s proceedings on this case but had to cut a sorry figure after AJK President Sardar Masood Khan, who happens to be the chancellor of all public sector varsities, did not agree, and instead advised them to defend themselves before the bureau if they were not guilty.

Interestingly, in a bizarre move, Dr Haleem had obtained a 2-year extension on March 9, 2016 from the then President (and chancellor) Sardar Mohammad Yaqoob Khan, more than 14 months before the expiry of his 3-year term.

Tariq Naqash 

Students across AJK show solidarity with their brethren in IHK

Thousands of schoolchildren, accompanied by sizeable number of adults, staged rallies and demonstrations across Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) on Wednesday to condemn unceasing Indian atrocities on innocent people of held Kashmir, particularly the recent crackdowns on educational institutions, and show solidarity with the victims.

Drawn from state-run institutions, the students paraded through the streets in almost all major cities and towns, holding banners and placards, inscribed with a variety of slogans calling for an end to the state sponsored terrorism in held Kashmir as well as intervention of the United Nations (UN) and international community for an early solution to the lingering dispute, in accordance with the wishes of Kashmiri people.

Students gather at Burhan Wani Chowk for solidarity show

In state capital Muzaffarabad, the protesting students first gathered at Burhan Wani Chowk near Press Club, where they were briefly addressed by AJK Prime Minister Raja Farooq Haider, Minister for Education Barrister Iftikhar Gillani, renowned Kashmiri activists Uzair Ghazali and Mushtaqul Islam and some representatives of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC).

 Some of the students were holding black flags while some were carrying national flags of Pakistan and AJK, which they kept on waiving throughout the demonstration.

After the speeches were over, the gathering, led by the AJK premier, marched towards the office of the UN Military Observers Group for India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP) near Domel, where a protest note was delivered to the UN observers.

Young girls enthusiastically chant anti India slogans

All along the march, participants kept on chanting slogans: “Hai haq hamara azadi, hum cheen k lain gay azadi (freedom is our right and we will snatch it).”

Speaking to correspondents on the occasion, young boys and girls said they were deeply impressed and inspired by the outstanding gallantry of Kashmiri youth while challenging a ferocious army equipped with lethal weapons.

“Our hearts go out to our brothers and sisters in occupied Kashmir who have been braving the worst ever repression of modern history at the hands of brute Indian forces… I pay salute to their heroism,” said Tayyiba Batool a tenth grade student.

“The Pharaoh and Nimrod also considered themselves the mightiest but eventually they were devastated by the Allah Almighty, and same will happen to their likes in today’s world,” she added in an attempt to give solace to the oppressed Kashmiris.

Many also lamented the silence of the UN and said it was high time the World Body played its long-overdue role in resolving the longest pending issue on its agenda to justify its creation and existence.

“As a result of the unrelenting repression by Indian troops, the calamitous situation in the held Valley warrants for immediate action by the UN. And if the UN does not rise to the occasion, there is no point of having such a toothless and worthless organization,” said Daniyal Mumtaz, wearing traditional Boy Scout uniform.

He said the demonstrations were a message that notwithstanding the bloody line that separated Kashmiris from each other, people on this side of the divide were fully conscious and concerned about the sufferings of their brethren in held Kashmir.

AJK premier leads the rally towards UN office

Responding to question by some media persons, PM Haider called upon Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to ensure stoppage of atrocities on the Kashmiris as well as their freedom from Indian yoke, “because it was his responsibility as leader of the Quaid-e-Azam’s party.”

He said the Kashmiris wanted a peaceful solution to their problem and would give another chance to the UN and world community to make it happen.

“Otherwise the responsibility of further aggravation of situation will not rest on the Kashmiris,” he said. 

Participants of a similar rally in Rawalakot, led by deputy commissioner Poonch Raja Tahir Mumtaz, also presented a memorandum to the UN observers in the town.

Similar rallies were held not only at all district headquarters, but also at many tehsil headquarters in AJK.

Tariq Naqash