MUZAFFARABAD: Political crisis in Azad Jammu and Kashmir persisted on Sunday, with ruling PTI and the combined opposition still unable to make a final decision about their respective prime ministerial candidate.

As a result, the Legislative Assembly session was adjourned by Speaker Anwarul Haq without holding the election process over the three consecutive days, to meet again at 11am on Monday.

Throughout the day, the PM’s house and the presidency in the upscale Jalalabad area of state capital remained the hub of political manoeuvres and machinations.

Of the 31 members of the ruling party, initially five had camped in the presidency but the number gradually swelled to eight by Sunday evening.

Ironically, they included three lawmakers the PTI had blessed with special seats after sweeping the July 2021 general elections. However, none of them was accessible to the media.

Sources told Dawn that there were 24 PTI lawmakers in the PM’s house, but one slipped into the rival camp in the afternoon, amid rumours that “he had been abducted”.

Acting premier Khawaja Farooq Ahmed said at a press talk in PM House that the “sudden disappearance of a colleague was the reason they could not make it to the Assembly in time”.

During the day, leaders of the PPP and PML-N had confirmed to reporters that they had surrendered the position of prime minister to the PTI’s so-called ‘forward block’ backed by President Sultan Mahmood who had nominated Chaudhry Rasheed for the office.

According to sources, while the majority of PML-N legislators was eager to become part of the government, their colleagues outside the Assembly had reservations about the decision.

“As long as the PTI lawmakers in the president’s basket do not openly announce formation of a forward block, how can our colleagues in the Assembly vote for one of them [for the premiership],” said a PML-N leader on condition of anonymity.

Published in Dawn, April 17th, 2023