Another crisis brewing up for AJK LA

ISLAMABAD A mega political crisis lies in store for Azad Jammu and Kashmir, as Pakistan-sponsored power politics is in the full swing in AJK. Former Prime Minister AJK Raja Farooq Haider had repeatedly accused Pakistani Government of plotting evil conspiracies against democratic setup of AJK. Farooq Haider and former speaker AJK Legislative Assembly, Shah Ghulam Qadir have kept alleging that AJK Government was trying to abolish the administrative character of AJK by co-opting allocated refugees seats of AJK Legislative Assembly in Pakistan with those of reserved seats, with the support of Pakistani Government. Sardar Attique-led ruling Muslim Conference has also been blamed for conspiring to dissolve the existing Assembly after co-option of the refugees seats to block PML-Ns inroads in AJK. The reckless efforts of AJK Government, with the patronage of Pakistans key government functionaries, to accommodate those controversial individuals who were the architects of the recent judicial crisis in AJK are leading the political scenario to worse. Fayaz Akhtar, brother of the former disgraced chief justice of AJK Supreme Court Riaz Akhtar, is reportedly exerting all his influence to get his brother grab the lucrative slot of the Election Commissioner of AJK. Fayaz, a very close associate of AJK Premier Attique, is using his 'fiscal cards by means of circulating hefty cash in concerned circles to acquire the aforesaid slot. By making Riaz Akhtar Election Commissioner, the AJK Government intends to rig the expected elections. Attique is controlled by the Government of Pakistan which wants dissolution of this Assembly. We want this Assembly to meet its five-year tenure but they would not allow this to happen. When I was PM, I could dissolve the LA but I had never done that because it was not the spirit of democracy. A significant number of leaders from PPP, Peoples Muslim League and Muslim Conference are joining us, Raja Farooq Haider informed TheNation on Saturday. He said that PML-N would launch full-fledged political campaign after Eid. Barrister Sultan Mehmood Chaudhry, who was an expected ally of PML N, seems to have join hands with the ruling coalition. Theres no presence of PML-N in AJK, when this party would be formed then Ill decide what to do. My own party is a great political force so why should I join PML-N? Any merger into PML-N is out of question, he told TheNation. Not only that, Sultan also supports the dissolution of the present LA, AJK. This Assembly is a brainchild of Musharrafs era, it better be dissolved as soon as possible, he says. Federal Minister for Kashmir Affairs Mian Manzoor Wattoo is undergoing from a medical treatment and the PM AJK is reportedly avoiding media these days, therefore, their comments could not be incorporated.

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