MUZAFFARABAD: Terming July 25 elections to the Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) Legislative Assembly an “assault on the rights and mandate of Kashmiri people”, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz leaders on Tuesday rejected the exercise and vowed to launch a powerful agitation against ‘the vote of coercion and fraud’.

The announcement was made by AJK Prime Minister Raja Farooq Haider, former Pakistan prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and PML-N Secretary General Ahsan Iqbal in a joint presser at the PM House, Muzaffarabad. Many local PML-N leaders were also present on the occasion.

Mr Haider said: “The prime minister of Pakistan has committed a mockery of our state, our government and our constitutional institutions”, citing visits of federal minister Ali Amin Gandapur along with PM Khan in this regard.

“This is not Imran Khan’s vote… it’s the vote of coercion, currency and fraud and we reject it outright,” he declared while referring to the July 25 elections.

Mr Haider regretted that the language used in AJK was not in line with the traditions of Kashmir and said if Mr Gandapur was really an expert on election politics PM Khan should have sent him to Punjab and Sindh where his party had lost almost all by-elections.

He questioned that while money laundering was a serious concern of the international community, one was tempted to ask from where and by whom the money was pumped in AJK to buy voters.

Mr Haider threatened he would launch a campaign throughout the country as well as abroad to expose the truth to the Kashmiris on both sides of the divide and the diaspora.

Before him, Mr Abbasi said vote was a constitutional right, but PTI had succeeded in stealing it by violating all moral and democratic values.

“Though on papers the PTI may have won, democracy has lost. I am sure Kashmiri people will never accept it,” he said.

“This is how elections are stolen… It was a repeat of the 2018 general elections in Pakistan and 2020 polls in Gilgit-Baltistan,” Mr Abbasi said.

He asserted that the non-representative setup to be installed in AJK would not be able to pursue Kashmir cause. Recalling Donald Trump’s mediation offer, he said irrespective of political affiliations no Kashmiri would accept the Line of Control as a permanent border.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr Iqbal claimed that stealing of mandate in AJK was part of an international conspiracy aimed at sowing the seeds of anti-Pakistan sentiments on the soil of Kashmir.

Published in Dawn, July 28th, 2021