MUZAFFARABAD: An influential member of Prime Minister Raja Farooq Haider’s cabinet on Thursday touched the hearts of PML-N workers when he said that it was the bureaucracy that was ruling the roost in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK).

Speaking at an event to mark the death anniversary of Raja Muhammad Haider Khan, father of the AJK premier, Mushtaq Minhas, minister for information, tourism and information technology, said the late leader and his colleagues had fought for freedom of the entire state of Jammu and Kashmir, as well as “right of the people to rule the liberated territory “.

“The prime minister might have its realisation, but the fact is that our government is yet to leave an impact on the masses,” he said, referring to its performance.

He went on to say that his assertion might leave a bad taste in the mouth of the prime minister, but he could not contain his feelings.

“This is not the government which the people and the PML-N workers had dreamed about before July 21 last year polls… It’s the government of the bureaucrats,” he said.

“We will have to move towards the direction that is expected of us,” he added.

The straightforward remarks by Mr Minhas, who is considered a close aide of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, drew applause from the audience.

An uneasy prime minister gestured to Mr Minhas to shelve this topic for some other occasion, but he slightly distanced himself from the mic and retorted in a lighter vein if he needed to submit an application about what he had to say, evoking laughter from the audience.

Mr Minhas did not discontinue expressing his anger at the bureaucracy, which many observers believed was an indirect expression of distrust in the policies of Mr Haider, who is accused of banking more on a set of bureaucrats than his party colleagues

Interestingly, those bureaucrats were also close confidantes of Prime Minister Chaudhry Abdul Majeed from the previous PPP government.

“The government of bureaucrats is not acceptable to us and our workers. These bureaucrats are civil servants but they take undue advantage of our lenience,” Mr Minhas said.

Earlier, the journalist-turned-politician paid tribute to the struggle in India-held Kashmir but came down on the electronic media of Pakistan for its “poor coverage” of happenings across the Line of Control.

“You have the right to hold talk shows on domestic issues, but how many? On any arrest in Karachi, you hold talk shows for two consecutive days, but you do not highlight the sacrifices of Kashmiris the way they deserve,” he said, addressing the media.

The event was also addressed by President Sardar Masood Khan, Mr Haider and several others.

Published in Dawn, April 21st, 2017