MUZAFFARABAD: The ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) would single-handedly contest next year’s general elections and clinch victory on the basis of its performance, a senior minister said on Tuesday.

“Ours is the largest parliamentary party in Azad Kashmir and as per our policy we will enter the fray next year single-handedly,” said Chaudhry Tariq Farooq, AJK’s senior minister for physical planning and housing, at a Meet the Press programme of the Central Press Club in Muzaffarabad.

The last general elections to the AJK Legislative Assembly on July 22, 2016 were swept by the PML-N as it bagged 31 out of 41 direct seats.

Minister predicts victory for party on basis of its govt’s performance

Mr Farooq said the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf, Pakistan Peoples Party and Muslim Conference were also exerting themselves to clinch success, but the prospects of his party were far brighter than them.

While asserting that the performance of the PML-N government had remained comparatively better over the past four years, as it had so far been 75 per cent successful in implementing its pre-election avowals, the minister however admitted that at the same time there had been some deficiencies in governance-related issues which could have been removed.

Published in Dawn, August 19th, 2020