July 27, 2002	Saturday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 16,1423

Please Visit our Sponsor (Ads open in separate window).

MUZAFFARABAD, July 26: Around three dozen people, led by an estranged ruling party leader, staged a sit-in here on Thursday to protest against non-implementation of some demands of the residents of the city, mainly the allocation of seventh seat in the Legislative Assembly.

The sit-in, led by the former head of Development Authority Muzaffarabad, Zahid Amin, who contested last AJK elections as an independent candidate, lasted for three hours on the pavement of the main road outside the press club.

Some banners, inscribed with the demands of the residents, were also displayed.

Talking to reporters, Mr Amin criticized the government for not summoning joint session of the assembly and the AJK Council to process the pending constitutional amendment bill that envisaged the seventh LA seat for Muzaffarabad.

He said Muzaffarabad was the largest Azad Kashmir district in terms of area and population but its representation in the assembly was less than that of other units, which was unjust and unfair.

The allocation of funds for Muzaffarabad, he said, was also equivalent to the small units, which could be checked from the current year’s annual development programme. “Enough is enough. People of Muzaffarabad can no more tolerate injustice meted out to them by successive regimes,” he said.

He warned that if the government failed to convene the joint sitting within four weeks, “people of Muzaffarabad will observe hunger strikes in the capital daily.”

Mr Amin also demanded restoration of streetlights, allotment of land for new graveyards and resolution of water crisis in the capital.