-Info Minister recalls PPP, PML-N of defeat in GB’s last polls
-Bilawal addresses to PPP rally in Kashmir
-AJK Legislative Assembly polls to be held on 25 July
By Ali Imran
ISLAMABAD: Minister for Information and Broadcasting Chaudhry Fawad Hussain on Sunday said Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Zardari was even oblivious to his party position in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) as only eight candidates were contesting the upcoming elections of AJK Legislative Assembly on PPP tickets.
In a tweet, he said the speech of Bilawal Zardari has clearly revealed the reality that he (Bilawal) does not know about his party’s position in AJK. He recalled that Bilawal Zardari and Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) Vice President Ms Maryam Nawaz had run their respective parties’ election campaigns crazily in the last elections of Gilgit-Baltistan.
However it was revealed subsequently that not even one third among the total aspirants were contesting the elections on the tickets of both PPP and PML-N at that time.Meanwhile on Sunday, Bilawal said that while on one hand people of occupied Kashmir were enduring atrocities at the hands of Indian forces, on the other hand people in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) were braving worst inflation due to the PTI government’s policies.
Addressing a gathering at Hajeera in Azad Jammu and Kashmir, Bilawal said that people of Kashmir, and not what he called a ‘puppet’ Prime Minister Imran Khan sitting in Islamabad, would take decisions on Kashmir. “It is PPP’s slogan that plebiscite is the only solution to the Kashmir issue,” he added.
He recalled that following the abrogation of Article 370 of its constitution by India on August 5, 2019, which had granted limited autonomy to occupied Kashmir, the ‘puppet’ prime minister had said in the National Assembly that what he could do in such a situation while the entire world had condemned this action by the Indian government. “You will vote for PPP government in the AJK,” he said while addressing the gathering, and added, “Similarly, you will also elect PPP government in Pakistan.”
PPP chairman expressed the resolve not to leave Kashmiris alone. “PPP’s affiliation with the people of Kashmir spreads over three generations,” he said, and added, “Party founder and former prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto (ZAB) had said that Pakistan would fight for Kashmir for thousand years.”
He said if people of AJK supported him, no power on earth could stop PPP from coming to power.
Bilawal said it was ZAB who had given Pakistan nuclear programme while it was his daughter, former prime minister Benazir Bhutto who had laid the foundation of the country’s missile programme. He alleged that PM Imran had become a ‘security risk’ now.
PPP chairman said it was the PPP government which had launched Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) under which poor women were supported financially. “It was our government which had raised the salaries and pensions of government employees by 100 per cent; something Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz government did not do when it came to power in 2013,” he boasted.
AJK legislative assembly elections
The 11th General Elections of Azad Jammu and Kashmir will be held on July 25, the region’s election commission had announced earlier this month.
According to the schedule announced by Chief Election Commissioner retired Justice Abdul Rasheed Sulehria, the nomination papers will be filed by the candidates before the returning officers on or before June 6 up till 4pm while the scrutiny of nomination papers will be conducted the very next day am onwards and the lists of validly nominated candidates will be publicised on the same day.
The last date for filing appeals before the election commission against the acceptance or rejection of nomination papers by returning officers has been fixed for June 27 before 2pm, while the hearing of appeals will be conducted from June 28 to 29, with the decisions announced on June 30 and July 1.
