MUZAFFARABAD: Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz candidate and former ambassador Mohammad Masood Khan was elected president of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) for five years here on Tuesday.

He will be administered the oath of office on Aug 25, a day after the expiry of the term of his predecessor Sardar Mohammad Yaqoob.

Mr Khan secured 42 out of the 48 polled votes while his rival candidate, Chaudhry Latif Akbar of the Pakistan Peoples Party, obtained six votes.

Opposition parties Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) and Muslim Conference (MC) boycotted the presidential election.

The electoral college of the AJK president comprises the 49-member AJK Legislative Assembly and six-member AJK Council as well as the federal in-charge minister for the council.

But the current strength of the assembly is 48 as Sardar Khalid Ibrahim, the lone member of the Jammu Kashmir People’s Party (JKPP), is yet to take the oath. Besides, one of the six members of the AJK Council has been detained in a rental power project case.

The JKPP was an ally of the PML-N in general elections but it quit the alliance after the latter nominated “an apolitical person for the office of president”.

Interestingly, Rawalakot-born Masood Khan is a close relative of Mr Ibrahim.

Of the remaining 48 members of the assembly, 36 belong to the PML-N and two to its ally Jamaat-i-Islami, four to the PPP, three to the MC and two to the PTI. One member has maintained his independent status.

Of the six members of the AJK Council, two each belong to the PPP and the PML-N and one to the MC. Political affiliation of the detained member Raja Babar Ali Zulqarnain is not clear.

Polling began at 10am and continued till 3pm after which results were announced.

Apart from the PML-N’s 41 votes, including that of the federal minister, Mr Khan also obtained the vote of the independent candidate who had only recently sided with the PPP to help it clinch the office of leader of opposition in the assembly.

Speaking to media after the announcement of the result, the president-elect thanked the PML-N parliamentary party and Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif for unanimously proposing and endorsing his name for the office.

Spelling out his ambitions, he said that he would proactively project Kashmir cause.

“While I am happy over my election, I am at the same time sad at the plight of our brethren across the divide,” he said.

He said AJK was free but India-held Kashmir was enslaved and a strong message should go to the people across the Line of Control that they were not alone in their struggle.

He said the struggle in held Kashmir had entered a decisive phase and all it needed was skilful and effective advocacy at international level.

“I assure my brothers and sisters that we will fight for them at every international forum with renewed vitality and strategy… We will go to the world capitals and Pakistani missions and Kashmiri diaspora will become our helping hands…Our tongues are not tied, we will continue political, moral and diplomatic support to people of held Kashmir,” he said.

Mr Khan said India was mistaken in its belief that it could suppress the Kashmiris for good. “History has shown that some weaker nations overpowered mighty countries and same will happen with India.”

He said military concentration in Kashmir was the biggest anywhere in the world after World War II.

“India should stop repression which will not be tolerated by the people of Kashmir and Pakistan and the international community,” he said.

Mr Khan said the president was constitutional head of AJK and did not have any specific political affiliation.

“I give you a word that I have no other purpose... but to serve people of Azad Kashmir and plead the cause of our oppressed Kashmiri brethren. I am not a proponent of double dealing. I will try to bridge gaps between people and communities,” he said.

Mr Khan was inducted in the Foreign Service of Pakistan in April 1980 and his last assignment prior to his retirement in Feb 2011 was ambassadorship in China.

However, after he was nominated by the PML-N for the presidential slot, it turned out that his name did not figure in the electoral rolls for 2016 polls, rendering his candidature doubtful.

On Aug 5, Mr Khan applied before the registration officer concerned for his enrolment, but his plea was turned down. On Aug 8, he submitted a similar application to the chief election commissioner but failed to get relief from him.

However, on Aug 9 the AJK High Court admitted his petition for inclusion of his name in electoral rolls for regular hearing and granted him provisional permission to contest the presidential election.

His vote was finally registered in the electoral rolls on Aug 11, the day nomination papers were filed by the candidates.

Published in Dawn, August 17th, 2016

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