MUZAFFARABAD: Main opposition Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) on Saturday demanded snap elections in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) alleging that not only the PML-N government had failed to deliver but the Legislative Assembly had also lost its utility.

“The sessions of assembly are held only to meet constitutional requirement without any serious legislation and other business. So far the legislation done by this assembly had been about scaling up perks and privileges of president, prime minister, ministers, speaker, deputy speaker and legislators and not about any issue of pubic interest,” maintained PPP regional president Chaudhry Latif Akbar at a press conference.

“In fact, this assembly has miserably failed to come up to the expectations of the people,” he added.

He said the cabinet members and legislators visiting foreign countries in the name of Kashmir had also failed to present reports on return on their performance so as to help common men know as to what they had delivered at the expense of taxpayers’ money.

He went on to allege that Prime Minister Raja Farooq Haider had also failed to deliver as chief executive of the state.

Mr Akbar, who held a ministerial berth in the previous government of his party under Chaudhry Abdul Majeed, could not return to the assembly in 2016.

However, the office of the leader of the opposition in AJK Assembly is held by one of the four lawmakers of his party. The overall strength of opposition, comprising PPP, PTI, Muslim Conference, Jammu Kashmir Peoples Party and an independent lawmaker, in the 49-member house is 11.

In response to a question, Mr Akbar candidly admitted that the parliamentary opposition’s performance within the house was not ‘up to the mark’.

“The opposition should vigorously talk about the rights of people but I feel sorry to say that such a role on its part is missing. If you ask me, I am not satisfied with its performance,” he said.

Rejecting the budget presented by the PML-N government, he maintained that the “tall claims about rule of law and merit and infrastructure development were mere pack of lies”.

He alleged that the government had failed to expend Rs3.5billion out of its more than Rs22 billion development programme for the current year (2018-19) “which spoke volumes about its incompetence”.

The PPP president lamented that the healthcare facilities in AJK were also at their lowest ebb in the PML-N government.

“Even the basic diagnostic facilities are not available in major healthcare centres and the reason cited by the government is paucity of funds. But funds are never a problem when it comes to buying luxurious vehicles for ministers and senior government officials,” he said.

Mr Akbar also condemned police action against the sit-in camp of Save River Save Muzaffarabad Committee and regretted that the government had failed to ink the agreement on Neelum Jhelum Hydropower Project (NJHP) with the Water and Power Development Authority and the federal government.

Published in Dawn, June 23rd, 2019