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.
Tariq Naqash
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