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.
Tariq Naqash
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