MUZAFFARABAD: An Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) minister on Thursday took strong exception to the AJK Council for “acting as a parallel government”.

“The AJK Council is acting as a parallel setup, challenging the integrity of the State… The parallel system is something very alarming and sends a wrong message across the Line of Control,” said Abdul Majid Khan, minister for rehabilitation and population welfare during an informal chat with the members of Capital Journalists Forum (CJF) – a journalists’ body working for media ethics and capacity building of mediapersons.

The AJK Council, it may be mentioned here, was established under the AJK Interim Constitution Act, 1974, to serve as a bridge between the governments in Muzaffarabad and Islamabad.

However, it is widely believed that the institution, that meets its expenses from the taxes collected from the AJK territory, has turned into a parallel government, running a full-fledged independent development network, notwithstanding serious reservations over the transparency of its deals.

Prime minister of Pakistan heads it as chairman while the federal minister and secretary for Kashmir affairs happen to be its in-charge minister and secretary, respectively. However, neither the chairman (PM Pakistan) nor the in-charge federal minister takes oath under the AJK Constitution.

Mr Khan maintained that while the institutions under the AJK government were accountable and answerable to different forums, the Council was an exception.

“If the upcoming general elections to (AJK) Assembly are to be held in a free and fair manner, the development wing of the Council must be abolished,” he demanded.

“Instead these funds should be transferred to the state so that the government in Muzaffarabad, whichever party it may belong to, could utilise them on its own free accord, instead of begging them from the Council,” he added.

Similarly, he said, the Council was also running a parallel judiciary, which was detrimental to the state.

On other issues, Mr Khan claimed that the AJK government was contemplating taking some “serious steps” to dispel the impression about its alleged corruption.

“We are trying to open each and everything and whoever is responsible for anything will have to become answerable. We will try to rend this false impression about the government,” he said.

Mr Khan admitted that the biggest allegation faced by the government was of corruption and he had told Prime Minister Chaudhry Abdul Majeed that “non-elimination of this impression over the next one year will be our biggest failure in the upcoming elections.”

He said this was the election year but ironically there was no chief election commissioner in AJK.

“Neither have we been able to complete reforms for electoral process nor have made any efforts for preparation of electoral rolls from the National Database Registration Authority,” he said.

He said continuity of democratic process was in the interest of each segment of the society but ironically democratic process faced obstacles every now and again.

He said the government welcomed positive criticism, as it was the prerogative of journalists. However, freedom of expression should not have any iota of derision or mudslinging, he stressed.

The minister termed the CJF suggestion regarding constitution of a quasi-judicial body to discourage yellow journalism a sound proposal and announced that he would put it up before the cabinet if it were submitted to him in black and white.

He also thanked the federal government for providing funds to bring 752 posts of the AJK population welfare department on normal budget. He expressed his gratitude to the leader of the opposition Raja Farooq Haider for his commendable contribution in this regard.

Published in Dawn, May 29th, 2015

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