Rathore’s statement on refugee seats draws PML-N ire

Govt denies PM hinted at abolition of refugee seats

A senior Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) on Thursday strongly criticised Prime Minister Faisal Mumtaz Rathore over his remarks on refugee seats, prompting a clarification from the government that his statement had been misconstrued. 

Addressing a rally in Bagh, Mr Rathore had said that while elections were approaching and the rival party — a reference to the PML-N — had already begun distributing tickets and interviewing candidates, the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) had neither formed its parliamentary board nor finalised tickets. 

“The reason for this is a clause in the agreement [with the Joint Awami Action Committee] regarding the refugee seats. After consultations on this matter, we will announce our tickets,” he had said. 

Interpreting the remarks as a signal towards the possible abolition of refugee seats in line with the demands of the Joint Awami Action Committee, former AJK prime minister and senior PML-N leader Raja Farooq Haider said the seats were an integral part of the AJK Constitution and could not be altered without a constitutional amendment. 

“With the prime minister’s statement regarding the refugee seats, the cat is out of the bag,” Mr Haider said in a statement, urging refugee lawmakers aligned with the PPP to resign. 

He said refugees were an inseparable part of the State of Jammu and Kashmir and that their representation formed the basis for describing the AJK government as the representative government of the entire state. 

Mr Haider alleged that the current government was bent on undermining the ideological foundation of the state.

Referring to an earlier political remark of his own, Mr Haider said: “My previous statement that I was the last prime minister stands vindicated, as those who came after me are bent upon damaging the ideological structure of the state.” 

He also alleged that the PPP government was attempting to influence the electoral process by allocating millions of rupees in development funds to prospective ticket holders and making permanent appointments on political grounds instead of through the National Testing Service (NTS) or another third-party mechanism.

He called on the Election Commission to act on an application already filed by the PML-N president, Shah Ghulam Qadir, regarding the matter and warned that a future PML-N government would annul what he termed the PPP’s “wrongful actions”. 

However, reacting to social media speculation over the refugee seats issue, the prime minister’s special assistant and media affairs in-charge, Syed Azzadar Hussain Kazmi, said Mr Rathore’s remarks were being deliberately misconstrued for vested interests.

In a statement, Mr Kazmi said the prime minister held a “clear and categorical stance” that the representation of Jammu and Kashmir refugees was a sensitive constitutional issue that should be resolved through consultation and consensus among all stakeholders before the announcement of the election schedule.

“The prime minister has never spoken about the abolition of refugee seats; instead, he has emphasised finding a permanent and acceptable solution to this issue,” he said.

Mr Kazmi said attempts to create misunderstandings over political matters and spread unrest among the public would not succeed under any circumstances.

Tariq Naqash

Despite 90pc rectification claim, AJK voter lists still flawed

The Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) Election Commission on Thursday acknowledged that preliminary electoral rolls prepared for the 2026 legislative assembly elections still contained “numerous errors”, despite its recent claim that around 90 per cent of discrepancies had already been rectified.  

In a press release, the commission said complaints had been received from political parties and members of the public regarding missing votes, transfer of votes from one district or one locality to another.

The commission said April 1, 2026 had been fixed as the qualifying date for voter registration and the process of revising electoral rolls had begun on April 18. Registration officers were tasked with removing deceased voters from the 2022 electoral rolls and enrolling eligible voters, followed by appeals before revising authorities.

However, scrutiny of the printed preliminary lists revealed “many errors”, prompting the commission to take suo motu notice of the matter.

It said a meeting of Revenue Department officials was convened and, following the suggestions received there, a high-level committee headed by the deputy commissioner of Bagh was formed to determine how the discrepancies had occurred and assess the scale of the errors.

The press release said the chief election commissioner (CEC) retired Justice Ghulam Mustafa Mughal, along with commission’s member Syed Nazeerul Hassan Gillani and secretary Muhammad Shakil Khan, had also met the chairman of National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra) in Islamabad, where an exchange of information confirmed that the complaints were genuine.

The commission said revising authorities had been directed under the Election Act 2020 to correct omissions and wrong entries of eligible voters.

Only four days ago, the Election Commission had claimed that around 90pc of discrepancies in electoral rolls had been rectified and the remaining issues would be resolved within days. It had also vowed to announce the election schedule by mid-May.

On Thursday, it reiterated its commitment to “free and transparent elections,” which it said required transparent voter lists.

It announced that, before final publication, draft electoral rolls in soft form would be sent to all registration officers to ensure the entries matched those originally submitted by them and that no eligible voter was inadvertently left out.

The commission also urged the public to approach their respective registration officers to verify their particulars in the electoral rolls.

Tariq Naqash

PPP forms 10-member parliamentary board for AJK polls

The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) on Thursday constituted a 10-member parliamentary board to finalise party tickets for the upcoming general elections in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK). 

The board includes PPP AJK affairs in-charge Faryal Talpur, regional president Chaudhry Muhammad Yasin, party secretary general and AJK Prime Minister Faisal Mumtaz Rathore, and Legislative Assembly Speaker Chaudhry Latif Akbar, who is also serving as acting president following the death of former president Barrister Sultan Mahmood on January 31. 

Former AJK president and prime minister Sardar Muhammad Yaqoob Khan, senior minister Mian Abdul Waheed, former minister Sardar Qamar-uz-Zaman, and former prime minister Sardar Tanveer Ilyas are also among its members. 

Former federal minister Chaudhry Pervaiz Ashraf and party leader Chaudhry Riaz, who assists Ms Talpur in AJK affairs, have also been included in the board. 

According to a statement posted on the PPP’s verified social media accounts, the board will approve party nominees for the upcoming AJK elections. 

The PPP has constituted its parliamentary board nearly a month after its main rival, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), formed a 25-member high-profile board on April 16, including eight members from AJK. 

The Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI), which has been struggling for formal registration with the AJK Election Commission, had earlier formed an 11-member parliamentary board comprising all AJK-based members on April 8.

Meanwhile, in a separate development on Thursday, Mr Rathore met PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari in Islamabad and briefed him on the prevailing political situation in AJK as well as ongoing development projects initiated by his government. 

During the meeting, Mr Bhutto-Zardari said that the PPP had appointed Mr Rathore as prime minister to deliver on its commitments to the people of AJK. 

“The promises we made to the Kashmiri people are a trust, and we do not betray that trust,” he was quoted as saying on PPP’s social media platforms. 

Mr Bhutto-Zardari directed that electoral promises be fulfilled without delay and that preparations for the next general elections be expedited.

Tariq Naqash

Science model College honours young CSS qualifier

Azad Jammu and Kashmir’s (AJK) Minister for Higher Education Malik Zafar Iqbal on Wednesday said the government was working on the establishment of two more model colleges in Muzaffarabad and had introduced, for the first time, a uniform education policy in the territory despite limited resources.

He was addressing a ceremony held at the Government Model Science College, Upper Chhattar, in honour of Walija Nisar, described as the state’s youngest Central Superior Services (CSS) officer.

Congratulating Ms Nisar on her achievement, Mr Iqbal said only four girls from AJK had qualified for the prestigious CSS examination this year, terming their success a matter of pride for the state, parents, teachers and the education department. 

He said the purpose of the ceremony was to inspire the younger generation to excel through hard work, perseverance, discipline and quality education.

The minister said the government was taking serious measures to improve the education system and provide basic facilities in educational institutions. He maintained that merit and transparency had been ensured in recruitments and that students from public sector institutions were achieving notable success after the introduction of the National Testing Service (NTS) system.

He said teachers played a fundamental role in character-building and training of students, adding that the more dedication educators showed in performing their duties, the greater success students would achieve.

The minister also praised the teaching and administrative staff of the Government Model Science College, Upper Chhattar, for their efforts.

Speaking on the occasion, Ms Nisar, whose father had died in the 2005 earthquake, attributed her success to the support of her mother, teachers and friends, and advised students to remain focused on their studies and career goals.

The ceremony was attended by DPI Colleges Prof Dr Tariq Khan, Government Postgraduate College Principal Madam Nuzhat Rahim, Deputy Director Colleges Saba Qamar, Teachers Training Institute Director Shabnam Huma, Model Science College principal Shagufta Bukhari, former principal Tahira Maqbool, and principals and faculty members from various educational institutions, besides a large number of students.

Tariq Naqash 

GPS-tagged endangered vulture traced to Pir Chinasi highlands

 Wildlife authorities in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) said on Tuesday that a critically endangered vulture fitted with sophisticated satellite-tracking equipment, captured in the 9,500-foot-high Pir Chinasi area, would soon be released back into the wild. 

A video clip recorded on Monday by Muzaffarabad resident Xain Raja and widely circulated on social media showed a group of locals carefully examining the large bird of prey after safely capturing it with a net when it landed in the highland, apparently weakened by hunger and exhaustion.  

The dark-coloured scavenger, identified as a White-rumped Vulture (Gyps bengalensis) by the distinct white patch on its lower back, was found to be carrying a solar-powered GPS transmitter and a yellow wing tag bearing the code “F49”. 

The White-rumped Vulture is listed as “Critically Endangered” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). 

Wildlife officials said the harness and electronic device attached to the bird were standard tools used in international migratory research and conservation programmes. They added that the bird appeared healthy and calm when it was examined. 

Dr Shaista Ali, monitoring officer at the AJK Wildlife Department, said the vulture was believed to have flown more than 1,000 kilometres across the Himalayan region from Nepal, which runs one of the world’s most successful vulture conservation programmes. 

She said Nepal’s initiatives included the Jatayu Restaurant project and the release of GPS-tagged vultures from the Kasara Breeding Centre. Researchers there routinely use yellow wing tags and solar-powered GPS Platform Transmitter Terminals (PTTs) similar to those attached to the bird found in Pir Chinasi. 

“The presence of ‘F49’ in Muzaffarabad is a significant data point for international researchers,” Dr Ali said. “It confirms that these vultures are traversing the Himalayan corridor linking Nepal, India and Pakistan.” 

She noted that the White-rumped Vulture population had suffered a catastrophic decline of nearly 99 per cent during the 1990s due to diclofenac poisoning caused by the veterinary drug widely administered to livestock. 

According to Dr Ali, Nepal’s tagging programme aimed to monitor whether rehabilitated vultures could survive and restore their historic migratory patterns in the wild. 

“The fact that this vulture reached the heights of Pir Chinasi suggests that the species is attempting to reclaim its historical migratory routes,” she said. 

Jazba Shafi, a range officer in the Wildlife Department, said the bird had temporarily been taken into custody at an army installation in Pir Chinasi to verify that the tracking equipment was not being used for espionage purposes. 

“They are feeding the bird properly and have assured us that it will be handed over to the Wildlife Department within a day so it can be released back into the wild,” he said. 

Dr Ali said the department was also coordinating with international conservation agencies to ensure that the bird’s tracking data was properly documented before its release. 

“The presence of this vulture in Pir Chinasi reminds us that our region is a vital link in a global ecological chain,” she said. “When we protect our forests and mountains, we are not just conserving local wildlife but supporting a biological network that spans continents.”

Tariq Naqash

Shehbaz seeks report on long-awaited Leepa Tunnel project, claims PML-N leader

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has sought a report on the long-awaited Leepa Tunnel project and directed the National Highway Authority (NHA) to prepare its PC-I for approval, raising hopes of progress on a scheme aimed at providing all-weather access to the strategically located valley, a PML-N leader said on Tuesday.

Situated about 100 kilometres southeast of Muzaffarabad along the Line of Control, Leepa Valley is home to around 80,000 people and remains inaccessible for weeks during winter due to heavy snowfall over mountain passes located at an altitude of around 10,000 feet.

Residents of the valley have long been demanding the construction of a tunnel from Reshian to ensure year-round connectivity and facilitate the movement of residents, patients and goods.

They have also staged several protest demonstrations to press for the construction of the tunnel to alleviate their hardships, with PPP leader Shaukat Javed Mir among the key organisers.

Syed Mukhtar Gillani, a PML-N leader from Leepa Valley, told journalists that the development came after he raised the issue before PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif during a meeting of party candidates for the upcoming AJK elections in Lahore on Friday.

He said Nawaz Sharif had asked him about travel conditions to Leepa Valley, to which he replied that although the PML-N government had constructed a better road network, the area continued to remain cut off during winters owing to heavy snowfall.

According to Mr Gillani, Nawaz Sharif subsequently directed Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to ensure an early resolution of the longstanding issue.

He said officials from the Prime Minister’s Office later contacted him and sought details of the proposed tunnel project, after which he obtained recommendations and related documents from the AJK Planning and Development Department and submitted them to the federal authorities on Tuesday.

Mr Gillani said he had subsequently been informed that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had directed the NHA to prepare the PC-I of the proposed project and seek its formal approval.

“We are personally grateful to Nawaz Sharif for paving the way for resolving this longstanding issue,” he said, adding that he remained in contact with NHA officials and was hopeful that the dream of the Leepa Tunnel would now become a reality.

The project was first announced by Shehbaz Sharif during an election rally in Leepa in June 2011 when he was chief minister of Punjab. Later, after the PML-N came to power at the Centre in 2013, the then prime minister Nawaz Sharif endorsed the initiative.

Subsequently, the Executive Board of the National Highway Authority approved the PC-I for construction of a 3.79-kilometre tunnel along with realignment of the access road in its 239th meeting held in Islamabad in September 2014.

The project was later cleared by the Central Development Working Party at an estimated cost of Rs7.3 billion. According to the Ministry of Kashmir Affairs’ performance report (2013–15), Rs50 million were also earmarked under the federal Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) for 2014–15.

However, the project could not make headway in subsequent years.

Tariq Naqash

Justice Bahar sworn in as acting Chief Justice of AJK High Court

Justice Syed Shahid Bahar, the senior puisne judge of the Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) High Court, was sworn in as acting chief justice of the court on Tuesday. 

The oath, which coincided with Justice Bahar’s 60th birth anniversary, was administered by AJK acting president Chaudhry Latif Akbar at a well-attended ceremony held at the President’s House. 

Justice Bahar will perform the functions of acting chief justice until the return of Chief Justice Sardar Liaquat Hussain on June 8 from Saudi Arabia, where he flew early on Tuesday to perform Hajj. 

The ceremony was attended by AJK’s senior minister for law, justice and parliamentary affairs Mian Abdul Waheed, former chief justices Syed Manzoor Hussain Gillani, Chaudhry Ibrahim Zia and Sadaqat Hussain Raja, Islamabad High Court Bar Association president Syed Wajid Ali Gilani, former vice chairman of the Islamabad Bar Council Barrister Syed Qamar Hussain Shah Sabzwari, Jammu Kashmir Council for Human Rights president Dr Syed Nazir Gillani, senior civil servants, and a large number of members of the bench and bar from Muzaffarabad and other districts of AJK.

Justice Bahar descends from a distinguished intellectual lineage in Muzaffarabad, a family whose name is synonymous with the region's literary and educational evolution. He is the son of the late Syed Bahauddin Bahar, a pioneering educationist widely revered for bringing the "flame of learning" to the once-inaccessible reaches of the Neelum Valley. This legacy of public service and scholarship was carried forward by his elder sisters, Syeda Amina Bahar Roona and Syeda Sajida Bahar, both of whom served with distinction in the education sector as dedicated teachers and capable administrators. Ms. Roona, in particular, has earned a lasting reputation as an acclaimed poet. One of his brothers-in-law, Syed Saleem Gardezi, retired as a senior civil servant and is also a seasoned author with several books to his credit. 

The family’s influence extends deep into the realm of letters and civic engagement through Justice Bahar's younger brother, Syed Arif Bahar. A prominent journalist and author in his own right, Syed Arif Bahar twice served as president of the Central Press Club Muzaffarabad. His spouse, Gulzar Fatima, is a former Member of the AJK Legislative Assembly, who currently serves as the secretary of the Pakistan Red Crescent Society’s AJK chapter, leading key humanitarian initiatives in the region.

Together, the siblings represent a generational commitment to the intellectual and cultural advancement of their homeland, rooted in their father's foundational work.

    Tariq Naqash