With elections in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) drawing closer and political rhetoric beginning to intensify, leader of the opposition and regional president of the Pakistan Muslim League-N AJK chapter Shah Ghulam Qadir on Wednesday accused the ruling Pakistan Peoples Party of attempting to evade the electoral process by backing calls for the postponement of polls through the Joint Awami Action Committee.
Addressing a public gathering in Dhamni on the outskirts of Rawalakot, organised in connection with the joining of former divisional director of the education department Dr Rashida Khanam and her supporters into the PML-N, Mr Qadir said authority to make decisions could not be handed over to “mob groups” and vowed that his party would never become part of any conspiracy aimed at weakening the state.
In an apparent reference to demands linked to refugee seats and election scheduling, he alleged that the PPP was trying to escape elections by “using the Action Committee as a shoulder for its agenda”, which, according to him, reflected the ruling party’s “defeated mindset”.
“This is perhaps the first ruling party that is running away from elections, but the Muslim League will not allow it to escape,” he said.
“Whoever is fond of politics should test their popularity through elections and learn the realities of governance.”
In a strongly worded speech reflecting the sharpening political divide ahead of the expected announcement of the election schedule, Mr Qadir also accused the PPP of conspiring against the existing system.
Referring to the party’s political history, he alleged that Zulfikar Ali Bhutto had raised the slogan of “Idhar Hum, Udhar Tum”, which, according to him, had contributed to the division of Pakistan, and claimed that the PPP was once again pursuing a “formula for the division of Kashmir”.
“This mischief is a conspiracy against the system, but we have full confidence in our intentions and leadership, and the PML-N will foil all such conspiracies,” he said.
Rejecting what he described as baseless propaganda about weakening pro-Pakistan sentiment in Poonch, Mr Qadir said the region was “the land of martyrs and veterans” whose people had rendered sacrifices for the ideology of Pakistan.
“The people of Poonch were Pakistani before and they remain Pakistani today,” he said, adding that those harbouring doubts should “remove such misconceptions from their minds”.
The PML-N leader further alleged that the public was being misled into believing that those not voting for the PPP would be deprived of payments under the Benazir Income Support Programme.
“The money belongs to the World Bank and is distributed by the Government of Pakistan,” he said, warning that his party knew how to protect its workers if complaints of political victimisation emerged.
Claiming that the PML-N did not require any electoral alliance, he said the party had enough electable candidates in every constituency and would contest the elections on the basis of its manifesto and past performance.
“We will form the government with a two-thirds majority,” he asserted.
Former minister Sardar Tahir Anwar Khan, former MLA Sehrish Qamar, former AJK Council members Sardar Abdul Khaliq Wasi and Sardar Naseem Ahmed Sarfraz, along with Javed Sharif Advocate, Khawaja Imran Ashraf and Sardar Arshad Niazi, also addressed the gathering.
They, too, alleged that attempts were being made “in collusion with certain elements” to postpone the elections in order to manipulate the process and urged the AJK Election Commission to announce the election schedule before May 25.
Tariq Naqash
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