ISLAMABAD: Adviser to Prime Minister on Political Affairs Rana Sanaullah on Monday claimed that the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) had secured a two-thirds majority in the Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) Legislative Assembly after the completion of three phases of elections.
Addressing a press conference in Islamabad, Sanaullah said the PML-N had won 25 seats in the 53-member assembly and would form the government with a two-thirds majority after the reserved-seat elections.
The PML-N emerged as the leading party in the AJK elections, securing 25 seats across the three phases of polling.
The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), which is an ally of the PML-N at the Centre, secured 11 seats and subsequently alleged irregularities in the elections. Sindh Senior Minister Sharjeel Memon described the polls as “Form 47 Plus”, saying they would be remembered in history for alleged rigging.
Sanaullah, however, said the PML-N had received a clear mandate from the people of AJK to improve governance and address the region’s problems.
He vowed that the incoming PML-N government would fulfil the promises made to voters, while noting that elections on six seats could not be held because of the law and order situation.
The PML-N leader also announced that Awami Dast-o-Baazo party candidate Sajid Iqbal, who was elected from LA-14 Bagh-I, had joined the PML-N team for the development of AJK.
“Sajid Iqbal will work with us for the betterment of Azad Kashmir,” Sanaullah said.
Commenting on the ongoing political situation in AJK, he said those participating in the sit-in were “our brothers”, while claiming that around 1% to 1.5% of the participants might 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 the region would be the top priority of the PML-N government, while reiterating that peaceful protest was a constitutional right of every citizen.
He alleged, however, that the proscribed Jammu Kashmir Joint Awami Action Committee (JAAC) wanted the AJK elections to be delayed.
He warned that the situation in the region could have deteriorated further had the elections not been held as scheduled.
The AJK government had declared JAAC a proscribed organisation on June 5 under the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA), accusing the group of involvement in terrorism.
The ban was imposed days before the committee’s planned June 9 protest, during which it had demanded, among other issues, the abolition of 12 AJK Assembly seats reserved for refugees from Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir who migrated to Pakistan after 1947.
Sanaullah’s claim of a two-thirds majority is based on the PML-N’s current 25 general seats and the expected outcome of reserved-seat allocations, which will determine the final composition of the 53-member assembly.