Imran lambasts "imported regime" for ignoring sacrifices of Kashmiris

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman on Thursday blamed the federal government for clandestinely establishing relations with India for the sake of business interests in disregard to the supreme sacrifices of freedom seeking people of occupied Jammu and Kashmir. 

Terming the Kashmiris as “special people” for their nonstop struggle for freedom in general and the sacrifice of one hundred thousand lives over the past 33 years in particular, he assured them that he would not let their sacrifices go down the drain. 

“As long as I am alive I will not let your sacrifices go to waste. I raised my voice for you at all forums; became your ambassador and it’s my promise to you that at every international forum I will not let the world forget your sacrifices.” 

The PTI chief was addressing a huge gathering in a playground in the heart of Muzaffarabad on the invitation of AJK Prime Minister Sardar Tanveer Ilyas, who is also his party’s regional president. 

Organisers said that it was Khan’s 52^nd public meeting after his ouster from power in April this year. The 20 feet high stage from where he spoke to the audience was also said to be the highest in any public meeting in the country. 

The PTI chief recalled that when on August 5, 2019 the “fascist Narendra Modi led Indian government" had revoked the special status of occupied Jammu and Kashmir under the UN Security Council resolutions, his government had severed all ties with New Delhi. 

“You know very well that every country derives benefits from trade [with other countries]. India is a big country and Pakistan would also have benefited from trade with it. But my government decided that we would never compromise on the Kashmir freedom movement. We made it clear that we will revive relations and trade with India only when it revives the statehood of occupied Jammu and Kashmir.” 

However, without naming any particular nation he alleged that ever since this “imported government had been imposed on the Pakistanis under a foreign conspiracy it was working on the agenda of its foreign masters like puppets.” 

Referring to the audio leaks, the PTI chief said that he owed gratitude to Shehbaz Sharif for leaking his conversation in the PM’s office with his principal secretary Azam Khan, “which had made it clear to the whole world that the cryptic dispatch was a reality.” 

“Shehbaz Sharif you leaked it to harm me but in doing so you have wreaked havoc on yourself,” Khan said. 

He reiterated his claim that the US official Donald Lu had told Pakistan’s ambassador that the failure of no confidence motion against Imran Khan would cause Pakistan a great loss and contrarily his replacement with Shehbaz Sharif would go to the benefit of Pakistan.  

Mocking PM Sharif, he contemptuously said: “Whenever he sees the boots [of generals] he starts polishing them and particularly the biggest boot – a veiled reference to the army chief – is shone in a way that it reflects the image of the person.”

He asserted that the audio leaks had also revealed that while the PTI government had closed trade with India, Maryam Nawaz had imported machinery from India. 

Quoting an alleged conversation between PM Sharif and his principal secretary, the PTI chief said that ever since the “thieves” had been installed they were least bothered [about impact of trade with India].”

“They do not know that we were putting pressure on India that Pakistani people will never mend fences with them unless they restore the statehood of Kashmiris. But what are they doing? They are clandestinely and shamelessly establishing relations with India in disregard to the sacrifices of one hundred thousand Kashmiris.”

“They just want money which is their god.”  

He asserted that Pakistan was at the historic crossroads and continuity of the present regime would render it insolvent and bereft of ideology.

Ishaq Dar lambasted 

The PTI chief also took strong exception to the return and installation of Ishaq Dar as finance minister, alleging that he had given a written confessional statement in 2000 about how he would launder the ill-gotten money of Sharif family. 

" What else could be the biggest crime and disgrace of a country where looters of billions of rupees return after a deal. If we give NRO to such people and give them deals then I ask why you have imprisoned poor people for offences like theft of a cycle, a buffalo or a car?”

“I tell this to the whole nation that if we accept this silently, there won’t be a difference between us and sheep and goats.” 

Nation asked to prepare for his call

Claiming that many turncoats would also make their way to the AJK assemblies he asked people to promise him that whoever traded his conscience would not get their votes to return to the legislature. 

“Because this is disgrace to democracy and to your vote; they are the people who have turned politics into a business activity despite the fact that politics is a service and public abhors the persons who trade their conscience.” 

Khan asked the nation to prepare themselves to respond to his call and asked the Kashmiris to join their Pakistani brethren for a reason. 

“The imported government has cut your budget. We had collected a record tax of Rs 6000 billion in the history of Pakistan. Your share in it was Rs 200 billion but they are hardly giving you Rs 60 billion,” he said, recalling that he had given more funds to the PML-N government in AJK after coming to power in 2018. 

CEC rebuked

The PTI chief also chided chief election commissioner Sultan Sikandar Raja, terming him as “chief electoral fraud.”

“Though we already knew it, the audio leaks have proven that this charlatan has been fixing matches in collusion with the PML-N.”  

“Listen Sultan Sikandar if you possess honour and respect, you should step down and if you don’t this nation will never spare you because you are violating the law and you are committing and planning to commit future electoral fraud.” 

He warned that his party would take every step against the CEC for his plans to “violate the mandate of the people.” 

Earlier, in his speech the AJK premier said that while Khan had proved himself to be the leader of the Islamic world those who claimed themselves of being of Kashmiri origin had started trade with India and had avoided talking about Kashmir at the UN. 

“I assure you that the Kashmiris are on your back because they consider you as their benefactor,” he said, assuring Khan that AJK would witness a real change in all respects in a short span of time in accordance with his vision.  

Prior to him, Pakistan Awami Tehreek leader Shaikh Rashid Ahmed, AJK minister Deevan Ali Chughtai and some others also spoke. 

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Imran to address power show by Iyas in Muzaffarabbad today

The ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) is all set to hold a “huge and unique” public meeting in a big playground in the heart of the Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) capital to be addressed by party’s chairman and former prime minister Imran Khan later in the day today. 

Khan was invited to publicly speak to the Kashmiris – for first time after he was ousted from power through a no trust motion in April this year - by his party’s regional president and AJK prime minister Sardar Tanveer Ilyas who, his team said, had been personally monitoring the arrangements with regard to the event ever since.

Over the past few days the prime minister has been making contacts with party office bearers in different parts of Muzaffarabad division and elsewhere to ensure that their PTI activists faced no problems in making it to the K H Khurshid Mini Football Stadium in Upper Adda neighbourhood of Muzaffarabad to attend the jalsa.

Talking to reporters on Thursday, Ilyas maintained that since the PTI chairman was a leader of international standing and his views were paid heed across the globe.

"Among other things, Khan will give a special message of hope and solidarity to the struggling people of occupied Kashmir from the soil of the liberated territory today."

“What I have gathered from my meetings with people from different segments of society is that everyone is eager to catch a glimpse of the charismatic leader for his bold and unequivocal stance on the just cause of Kashmiris on the one hand and his generous fiscal aid for the development and progress of the liberated territory during his rule on the other,” Ilyas said.

PTI activist Touseef Abbasi told reporters that it would be Khan’s 52nd public meeting in the country after his ouster by the forces “inimical to the progress, prosperity and true freedom of Pakistan. 

At the venue of the public meeting, three grandstands have been erected by a Gujranwala based company towards the northern side, in a departure from the past practice of erecting the stage towards the western side. 

Quoting the stage manufacturing company, Abbasi said that so far such a big and capacious stage had not been installed at any public meeting in Pakistan. 

The 20 feet high main stage offering 24x8 feet space would house Mr Khan, Mr Ilyas and other central leaders while the other two 10 feet high stages, each offering 24x8 feet space, would accommodate local leaders, he said.  

On the front side of the main stage, the outline portraits of Khan and Ilyas with an emblem of haqeeqi azadi (real freedom) in the middle had been printed on a red screen. 

According to another organiser, a separate enclosure fenced with barbed wire and having an independent entrance has been set up for women. 

The ‘special guests’ would be hosted lunch at the PM House while all other participants would be served with packed food in the playground, where around 150 loudspeakers had been installed to ensure audibility in every nook and cranny.

He inforned that Khan’s helicopter would make a landing in a hockey ground near the PM House from where he would drive to Upper Adda along with PM Ilyas through Tariqabad bypass at about 3:30pm.

A police official informed that around 1500 police personnel had been deployed in the city to maintain law and order without causing any inconvenience to the residents.

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Ilyas says no trust against him an "imaginary thing"

Terming no confidence resolution against him an “imaginary thing”, Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) Prime Minister Sardar Tanveer Ilyas has denied outright the existence of any “forward block” in the parliamentary party of ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI).

“The no-trust motion may be a wishful thinking of some people [in opposition] who have no idea of our strength,” he said at a reception hosted by him in the honour of a group of senior journalists from Lahore and Islamabad at PM House Muzaffarabad late on Wednesday night. 

“Let it also be clear to everyone there is no forward block in our party. Instead, at least six opposition members are in contact with us,” he claimed. 

“Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf is a political force to be reckoned with. We believe in and profoundly respect the parliamentary norms and will give no space to the double-dealers,” he added.

Ilyas maintained that since he was [regional] PTI president, his decisions would be obeyed by everyone [in the party] in AJK. 

“And whatever decision the party chairman [Imran Khan] makes is binding on all of us,” he added. 

Posting of ACS-D 

The AJK premier took strong exception to an Establishment Division notification issued on Wednesday, placing the services of Muzaffar Khan, a BS-19 officer of Pakistan Administrative Service (PAS), at the disposal of the AJK government for further posting as additional chief secretary-development (ACS-D). 

Muzaffar Khan would replace BS-20 PAS officer Dr Sajid Mahmood Chauhan, but only after the AJK government would endorse his posting through a notification by its Services and General Administration Department. 

On Thursday, Chauhan was transferred and posted through a separate Establishment Division notification as joint secretary Gilgit-Baltistan Council secretariat in Islamabad. 

The ACS-D is one of the five officers - commonly referred to as ‘lent officers’ - that the federal government transfers and posts in AJK ‘under the Karachi Agreement of 1949.'  

PM Ilyas said he had written a letter to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif around two weeks ago, asking him to let the position of ACS-D rest with the AJK government, but to no avail.  

“And now we receive a letter saying that a BS-19 officer of so-and-so service [group] is coming [to assume the office of ACS-D]. Where will the AJK officers in BS-22 go? Will they sit under him in meetings?” the AJK PM said.

In my presence… [] I do not allow such ‘wonders’ to take place.” 

He said he considered AJK as a unit of Pakistan where everyone from Pakistan was welcome, but not at the cost of rights of the AJK people. 

He said he had proposed inter-provincial transfer of officers so that the civil servants from AJK could serve in the provinces and vice versa on reciprocal basis. 

"Are those [sitting] in the Establishment Division deaf and dumb that they do not know that there are officers much senior [than the newly posted ACS-D],” he questioned. 

He maintained that the AJK officers were prideworthy in all respects and the sitting chief secretary was a course mate of many of them. 

In a veiled reference to a civil revolt of mid 50's in Poonch, Ilyas who himself comes from that area said: "With a man from Poonch at the helm in AJK such injustice cannot be accepted." 

He said the Kashmiris had a conviction that no evil eye could be cast on Pakistan as long as they were alive. 

“But stopping our funds and creating one after the other issue is not fair and amounts to pushing us to the wall." 

Meeting with Shehbaz Sharif

The AJK premier said he had sought a meeting with PM Sharif who could not spare time to undertake one single visit to AJK after assuming this office. 

He recalled that PM Sharif was expected to visit Muzaffarabad in the wake of defects in the Neelum-Jhelum Hydropower Project (NJHP) tunnel system, but that did not happen either. 

“We had to discuss with him the leftover work committed under the NJHP as well as under the Mangla raising project, mainly the Rathoa-Haryam Bridge.” 

Alleging that the present regime had subjected AJK to huge fiscal cuts, he recalled that Imran Khan had not only provided full funds but also increased the development budget for the PML-N led AJK government. 

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Imran to address gathering in AJK capital on Sept 29

 

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman and former prime minister of Pakistan Imran Khan will address a public meeting in the Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) capital later this month in what will be his first public appearance in the territory after the last year’s election campaign. 

According to a press release issued on Friday, it was decided by the ruling PTI's parliamentary party to hold the public meeting in K H Khurshid mini stadium in the heart of Muzaffarabad on September 29 “to renew the unflinching affiliation of the Kashmiris with their ambassador.”

The parliamentary party’s emergency meeting was presided over by AJK premier Sardar Tanveer Ilyas, who is also PTI's regional president.  

At a public meeting in Bagh early this month, PM Ilyas had announced that Khan would soon be invited to address a “mammoth gathering” at the place of his choosing in AJK. 

“The venue of the public meeting might be in Muzaffarabad or in Kotli or here in Bagh,” he had said in Bagh, but immediately it was not clear if Muzaffarabad was the choice of Khan or that of Ilyas.  

A participant told this scribe that the parliamentary party in general and PM Ilyas in particular were sanguine about huge public participation in the September 29 event “because of the strong bond between the Kashmiris and Khan.” 

“Kashmiris owe rich tributes to Khan sahib for the way he fought their case at international forums and provided generous funds for the development and prosperity of Azad Kashmir in spite of country’s bad economic condition and they will accord him a rousing reception in Muzaffarabad,” Ilyas said on the occasion.  

He asserted that last year the AJK people had voted for Khan’s vision and ideology to “lay the basis of sustainable development in the liberated territory” and PTI would leave no stone unturned to come up to their expectations. 

According to the press release, the parliamentary party also decided to take part in the forthcoming local bodies elections with full force, expressing optimism that it would clinch victory exactly like that of the last year’s general elections.  

“We will devolve powers to the grassroots level in accordance with the vision of our leader Imran Khan,” PM Ilyas said, informing the participants that the PTI’s parliamentary board for LB polls would soon be constituted.  

The parliamentary party also gave its nod to a proposal by Ilyas to grant tax exemptions for the promotion of industry in AJK, following which a 15-member committee, headed by minister for finance, was constituted to determine the ratio of exemption. The committee was asked to submit its report to the prime minister within two weeks.

“We have to take bold initiatives to create an investment friendly atmosphere in our state so that we can attract more and more investors which will eventually create employment opportunities and strengthen our economy,” PM Ilyas said.  

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AJK and GB to bridge gaps after seven decades

Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) Prime Minister Sardar Tanveer Ilyas and Gilgit-Baltistan Chief Minister Khalid Khurshid have accused the Shehbaz Sharif led federal government of pushing their territories to the wall by slashing their rightful share in fiscal grants.

Both leaders also resolved to establish institutional linkages between their respective areas to bridge the gaps prevailing for more than the past seven decades. 

They were talking to media persons after a dinner hosted by Mr Ilyas in the honour of Mr Khurshid at PM House here on Wednesday night. The talk concluded shortly before midnight. 

“The prime minister of Pakistan is the prime minister of the whole country regardless of which parties govern which province or state. But, sadly, this time round the government in Islamabad has come with a different agenda and motto to push their opponents to the wall,” maintained Ilyas in his opening comments. 

“This is surprising, rather shocking,” he added.

Stating that nobody could remain in the government for life, he asked the ruling coalition in Islamabad to "give up discriminatory attitude and instead show political maturity and farsightedness.”

“If you give us money, which you will have to, it’s not coming from your personal kitty but from the coffers of the state.” 

He cited that many of his employees were unable to claim salaries or pledged allowances for want of funds. 

He said that the Rs 500 billion package announced by former Prime Minister Imran Khan for AJK had also been stopped by the incumbent government.

“People are speaking out against us… because they don’t know the reality. In fact, it’s we who the Almighty blessed to make mighty decisions [for the welfare of people].” 

“If you think by denying us our share you can make us bow down, you are mistaken.” 

 He said AJK’s share in the variable grant, according to a mutually agreed formula, was more than Rs 200 billion and “we say if you can’t give us this much money, give us just Rs 100 billion.” 

He asserted that Imran Khan had generously increased the share of both the AJK and GB governments, despite the fact they were ruled by the PML-N. 

Speaking on the occasion, Khurshid said over the last seven decades, GB and AJK lacked the kind of a relationship that should have existed between them “perhaps because of the negligence of the leadership on both sides.”

Terming Muzaffarabad as his first and not second home, he said he and Ilyas had agreed to strengthen ties between their respective areas through different measures, including construction of Shounthar tunnel. 

He said they had also decided that a Kashmir House would be built in Gilgit and a GB House would be built in Muzaffarabad. 

Khurshid said Pakistan’s economic condition had never been exemplary but every government of the past had taken good care of GB and AJK. 

“If the past rulers were unable to provide additional funds at least they did not slash the existing amount. But the incumbent regime is the first set-up that has cut our grants, thus completely pushing both regions to the wall.”

“We are therefore right in believing that it’s an imported government which has come to power with a specific agenda.”

The GB CM was of the view that connection between the people of AJK and GB was a must for freedom of occupied Kashmir, because only they could better explain and advocate the issue. 

“I believe instead of leaving the Kashmir issue at the mercy of the federal government or foreign ministry we should ourselves become its torchbearers… We should rise, talk about it and involve all those people who are willing to support us in this regard.

He said he wanted to call on the UN Secretary General to discuss climate change and the Kashmir issue. 

The area we come from is neither visited by development partners nor by INGOs while the World Bank says we are a disputed territory. We ought to talk to the UN Secretary General that the GB and AJK should be given preferential treatment in funding by the UN agencies.”

Khurshid invited his political rivals to support his efforts for inter-connectivity between and betterment of the people of GB and AJK.   

Responding questions, he alleged that the federal government was trying to topple his government “by hook or by crook.”

“They are working to weaken the judiciary in GB by trying to induct their favourites in violation of an adopted procedure… They are trying to reduce the term of assembly. Last but not the least, they have cut our budget.”

“I don’t have any hope of goodness from them. But I am sure Allah will humiliate them like He has done to them in the past.” 

GB Provincial Status 

Between the lines, Khurshid maintained that the grant of provincial status to GB and AJK, without causing harm to Kashmir cause and violating UN resolutions, could help both regions overcome their fiscal and other problems. 

However, when a reporter posed the same question distinctly, he acknowledged that it had been a moot point. 

“If we look at it in the context of the Kashmir issue, the resolution passed by the GB Assembly categorically stated that the region wants to be brought into constitutional ambit without weakening the Kashmir issue and Pakistan’s position on it in the UN.”

“But we are not hurrying up because we have a commitment to the Kashmir issue. It’s sort of a sacrifice and silent jihad.”

Khurshid was of the view that if AJK and GB got “constitutional guarantees without damaging Kashmir issue and UN resolutions” not only that no one would be able to cut their budgets, they would also have political representations at the highest political forums.

“If anyone amongst you becomes foreign minister tomorrow (after becoming a member of the Parliament), will you not fight your case on Kashmir in a different way?”

He said in his view it was time for practical steps with a different strategy, because the strategy being pursued over the past seven decades had nothing but [hollow] promises to the Kashmiris waiting for us. 

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Despite being abroad, AJK president 'physically holds meetings back home'

Despite having left Pakistan on a three-weeks long private foreign tour early this month, Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) President Barrister Sultan Mahmood is however appearing in a section of press almost daily holding different meetings in Muzaffarabad and Islamabad, thanks to his media team. 

Mahmood had flown out of Pakistan from Islamabad International Airport in the small hours of September 3. However, a notification about his tour was issued by the Services and General Administration Department (S&GAD) three days after his departure following a tittle-tale in official circles about his sudden “disappearance” without a proper proclamation.  

The S&GAD notification stated that the competent authority had accorded approval to the “private visit of President Sultan Mahmood to the USA from September 5 to September 26” with no financial liability on the AJK government.

In the absence of the president from the country, the legislative assembly speaker assumes his office, without requiring any separate notification to this effect.

However, ever since the president’s departure, his media team has been regularly feeding the local media, through the press information department (PID), reports about his one or the other engagement either in Muzaffarabad or in Islamabad. 

For example, on Sept 5, a press release by his office said that a joint meeting of the Higher Education Commission of Pakistan and the universities of AJK was organized at Kashmir House Islamabad on Monday with president Mahmoud in the chair.

On Sept 6, a handout said that President Mahmood had chaired a meeting of Mangla Dam Housing Authority in Islamabad on Tuesday.

On Sept 8, a press release by his office said that a delegation of the AJK Zakat Council had called on President Mahmood in Muzaffarabad on Thursday.

On Sept 9, his office informed in a handout that the “US Embassy’s political counsellor and political officer Robert Keane had called on President Mahmood in Islamabad on Friday.”   

As it was not enough, the latest of the series of press releases was issued on Sept 13, stating that “President Mahmood had presided over the Senate meeting of Kotli University in Islamabad on Tuesday.”

Surprised at these handouts, some civil society activists had taken to social media with interesting comments. 

“President's soul might be wandering in Kashmir,” tweeted Abdul Majid Azad, a young Kashmiri management graduate.

Naila Altaf Kayani, a Muzaffarabad based political and social activist, echoed his views with slightly different words.

“If the AJK President has left for a USA tour on Sept 5 (according to an official notification) then is it his "ghost" who is chairing and holding meetings in Islamabad and Muzaffarabad almost daily during his absence in the country? Will someone in the presidency clarify?” she tweeted.  

Some netizens had also drawn attention to the fact that AJK had functioned without a constitutional head from Sept 3 to Sept 6 following the “without notice” departure of the president. 

When questioned by this correspondent,
Mahmood’s Press Secretary Kamal Haider did not find anything unprofessional in this practice. 

“The president had held all these important meetings before his departure and we are releasing handouts about them one by one for the consumption of readers,” he said in his terse response.

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