MUZAFFARABAD: The combined opposition in the Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) Legislative Assembly on Tuesday announced withdrawal of its private bill seeking considerable increase in salaries, allowances and privileges of the lawmakers.

The announcement was made by PML-N MLA Waqar Ahmed Noor at a press conference in the opposition’s chambers in view of the “outcry of the AJK government regarding budget cuts and bad fiscal health of the country”.

Interestingly, when the bill was introduced by Mr Noor in the assembly on May 23, Jammu Kashmir Peoples Party’s (JKPP) lone lawmaker Sardar Hassan Ibrahim, who has been sitting on opposition benches for quite some time, had opposed it for the very reasons.

Prior to that, in a closed-door meeting of the combined opposition, PPP regional president Chaudhry Mohammad Yasin had also expressed similar views about the bill, in sharp contrast to the standpoint of many of his colleagues from both the PPP and PML-N, who had reportedly said that they needed the raise for being ‘safaid posh’ (from the middle class).

Nevertheless, Mr Yasin had told them that he and his [lawmaker] son would not vote for the bill.

Meanwhile, the move had drawn scathing criticism on social media, with netizens questioning the PML-N’s central leadership to justify its calls to the common men to tighten their belts in the wake of fiscal constraints.

At the presser, Mr Noor presented the figures of disbursements by the [AJK] government in the current fiscal year in different heads and said “the hue and cry being raised by them over the alleged budget cuts [by Islamabad] was completely uncalled for”.

“In keeping with their [AJK government’s] complaints and the fiscal health of the country we have withdrawn the bill,” he said.

Earlier, on the floor of the assembly, which met after a gap of a week, the treasury benches continued debate on an adjournment motion moved by a PTI lawmaker on budget cuts, saying the move by Islamabad had led to the suspension of development work across the territory.

They called upon the federal government to reverse its decision in the interest of the AJK people.

The session was later prorogued by the chair sine die.

Published in Dawn, June 8th, 2022