MUZAFFARABAD: In an apparent reference to the leadership of the opposition Pakistan Peoples Party which has lately adopted an aggressive posture against the government, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said on Thursday that he had no remedy for those who were not adhering to the charter of democracy or were going against the stream.

“The signing of the Charter of Democracy was a new beginning in Pakistan. We signed it and have been abiding by it to this day. But if someone else does not do so and follows the policy of ‘Main na maanun’ then there is no remedy for it,” he said in his address at the budget session of the Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) Council.

The charter of democracy was signed in May 2006 by Nawaz Sharif and the PPP’s then chairperson Benazir Bhutto for restoration and strengthening of democracy in the country.

The session was one of the engagements of Mr Sharif during his brief stay in Muzaffarabad. Instead of an official building, the city’s lone five-star hotel, perched on a hilltop and overlooking most of the city, was chosen as the venue for the council session.

Attends AJK council budget session held not in the official building but in the city’s lone five-star hotel

The prime minister also inspected a bus parked on the hotel premises with the portraits of its 11 passengers, who were killed in shelling by Indian troops from across the Line of Control on Nov 23 in the upper area of the Neelum Valley. Mr Sharif also interacted with the bus driver Raja Gulfam.

In his opening remarks at the budget session, Mr Sharif said he felt proud that AJK people had given an overwhelming mandate to his party in the July 2016 elections.

“They (AJK people) want realisation of their dreams and it is now our duty and responsibility to serve them to make them feel that we have reciprocated their gestures,” he said.

Mr Sharif said that lack of resources was a general problem and even the richest countries faced it sometimes.

He said the AJK Council had members from parties other than the PML-N as well, but he had never discriminated among the members from different parties. He practised same policy in Pakistan, he added.

“But we don’t have any treatment for those who opt to swim against the stream and adopt a pessimistic policy,” Mr Sharif said without naming anyone.

He said politics of the Pakistan Muslim League-N was based on reconciliation and the party had proved it in Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and even in AJK and Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) by respecting mandate of the people.

“Democracy means to develop tolerance, accept constructive criticism and move ahead with prudence. Not only states and nations, even families cannot be run without this spirit.”

The prime minister said his government was successfully moving forward to fulfil its agenda and meet its target and goals.

“I am sure by 2018 we will rid the country of darkness, a reference to electricity loadshedding, and replace it with light and luminosity,” he said.

AJK possessed a tremendous potential to produce hydropower, which should be fully tapped, he said. “There are rivers and reservoirs in Azad Kashmir where we can set up power stations… Rather I would suggest that Kashmiri people should come forward to invest in this sector. The government of Pakistan would fully support them in this regard,” he said.

Mr Sharif said Pakistan was bound to progress as new avenues of its progress were rapidly opening.

He said the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor was a project of exemplary development and the government was working in its several sectors, results of which would soon prove to be very advantageous for Pakistan.

He said a vast network of roads and motorways was being laid in the country at a cost of billions of rupees... and AJK would also become part of the network, he added.

AJK-RELATED ISSUES

The recently installed AJK government had pinned hopes on Mr Sharif’s visit, anticipating some “institutional support” from him, rather than some one-time grant.

The AJK government was expecting an announcement about an increase in its share in the federal taxes from the existing 2.27 per cent to at least 4.5 percent.

However, while the prime minister appeared “considerate and passionate” towards AJK’s requirements, he did not make any announcement reportedly due to “legal and constitutional hitches,” according to a source privy to the matter.

Nonetheless the prime minister announced Rs 2 billion for infrastructure development in AJK and pledged to provide funds for construction of 50-kilometre roads in each of the 29 constituencies of the council.

Published in Dawn, December 30th, 2016