MUZAFFARABAD: The Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) chapter of Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) has censured Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) governments in Islamabad and Muzaffarabad, respectively, for their “utter failure to come up to the expectations of the struggling Kashmiris in India occupied territory.

“Unfortunately, both Prime Minister Imran Khan and Prime Minister Raja Farooq Haider miserably failed to play the role that the freedom seeking Kashmiris had expected from them in the wake of India’s Aug 5, 2019 move… I am afraid they will play a dangerous game with regard to the Kashmir issue,” alleged PPP regional president Chaudhry Latif Akbar at a crowded press conference at his residence on Wednesday.

According to him, both governmentshad full realisation that they could not win the upcoming AJK polls which was why they had been doling out public money to get the desired results.

“In 2016, the PML-N contested elections on the basis of tribes and deep pockets using funds of the AJK Council and in 2021, it gave schemes worth Rs25 million in each constituency through the local government department after the announcement of the election schedule, which was an unlawful act,” he said.

Following in their footsteps, the PTI government had also been contemplating spending around Rs5 billion in AJK in its desperate effort to win the forthcoming polls, he alleged.

“Instead of conquering AJK, the PTI government should thwartIndia’s nefarious designs to further divide the occupied territory,” Mr Akbar said.

Published in Dawn, June 24th, 2021