July 26, 2006	Wednesday	Jumadi-ul-Sani 29, 1427

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ISLAMABAD, July 25: Jammu and Kashmir People’s Party (JKPP) President and member-elect of AJK Legislative Assembly Khalid Ibrahim has decided not to contest polls for the coveted slot of AJK president.

Khalid Ibrahim told Dawn here on Tuesday that he had decided not to take oath as member of the house and boycott the entire electoral process including presidential elections as a mark of protest against the alleged interference of the federal government and rigging in the AJK elections held on July 11.

Khalid Ibrahim had been nominated as joint presidential candidate of Pakistan People’s Party Azad Kashmir (PPP AJK) and the JKPP.

He said the decision had been conveyed to the joint parliamentary party, adding that any decision taken by the committee in connection with the polls would be acceptable to him.

He said he used to say in the past that the direction of the federal government might be wrong but there was no reason to doubt its credibility. He, however, said the interference of Centre in the AJK elections had made the intentions of the Centre dubious as well.

Mr Ibrahim said the opposition would fully resist any move for a compromise on the principled stand on Kashmir and would be ready to go to any extent if it smelled anything wrong.

He said: “The way the Centre meddled in the electoral process to achieve the desired results makes us think that there is some motive behind bringing the Muslim Conference into power.”

He said the meetings of President Gen Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz with the Muslim Conference (MC) President Sardar Atiq Ahmad Khan and appointment of three members of the AJK Council belonging to MC as advisers to the prime minister on Kashmir Council before the polls had made it clear that the Centre wanted to bring Muslim Conference into power.

The JKPP president said the interference was not confined to pre-poll rigging, but the Centre used its influence after the MC failed to win even simple majority in the house in the polls, and rigged the elections on the reserved seats for refugees.