Muzaffarabad, Aug 17 (Alliance News): Adviser to Prime Minister on Political Affairs Rana Sanaullah has claimed that the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) has secured a two-thirds majority in the Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) Legislative Assembly following the completion of three phases of elections.
Addressing a press conference in Islamabad on Monday, Sanaullah said the PML-N had won 25 seats and would form the government in AJK after the allocation of reserved seats.
“PML-N has secured a two-thirds majority in the 53-member assembly,” he said, adding that the party had received a clear mandate from the people of AJK.
The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), an ally of the PML-N at the federal level, secured 11 seats but accused the ruling party of rigging the AJK elections. Sindh Senior Minister Sharjeel Memon described the polls as “Form 47 Plus.”
Sanaullah said the PML-N had been given a clear mandate to improve conditions in the region and pledged that the party would fulfil its commitments to the people.
He said elections could not be held in six constituencies because of the prevailing law and order situation.
The prime minister’s aide also thanked Awami Dast-o-Baazo party leader Sajid Iqbal, who was elected from LA-14 Bagh-I, for joining the PML-N team.
“Sajid Iqbal will work with us for the betterment of Azad Kashmir,” Sanaullah said.
Commenting on the ongoing situation in AJK, Sanaullah said those participating in the sit-in were their brothers, although he claimed that around 1% to 1.5% of the participants could be associated with elements seeking to provoke unrest.
“The people of Kashmir are as much owners of Pakistan as Pakistanis,” he said.
Sanaullah said maintaining law and order in AJK would remain the government’s top priority, while reiterating that peaceful protest was the right of every citizen.
He further alleged that the proscribed Jammu Kashmir Joint Awami Action Committee (JAAC) wanted the AJK elections to be delayed, warning that the situation could have deteriorated further had the elections not been held.
The AJK government declared JAAC a proscribed organisation on June 5 under the Anti-Terrorism Act, accusing the group of involvement in terrorism.
The ban was imposed days before the committee’s planned June 9 protest, which included a demand for abolishing 12 AJK Assembly seats reserved for refugees from Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir who migrated to Pakistan after 1947.
