MUZAFFARABAD: A former Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) minister and a regional office bearer of the PML-N on Thursday blamed an alleged “nexus” between Prime Minister Chaudhry Anwarul Haq and Leader of the Opposition Khawaja Farooq Ahmed for the “unrelenting setbacks” to the residents of Muzaffarabad.

“Whether it’s denial of development funds or shifting of public sector posts to other areas, residents in LA-29, Muzaffarabad-III are suffering by all means, thanks to a nexus between the two personalities,” said Barrister Syed Iftikhar Ali Gillani, regional secretary information of the PML-N.

Previously, Mr Gillani had returned in two successive elections from LA-29, Muzaffarabad-III and was minister for elementary and secondary education from 2016 to 2021 in the last PML-N government. However, he lost the July 2021 general elections to the PTI’s Khawaja Farooq Ahmed, who now happens to be the leader of the opposition.

“The projects that I got initiated in the capital during my period of representation were completed and inaugurated on time. However, the under-construction projects of our time have been in limbo after July 2021 despite the fact that their non-completion is causing immeasurable distress to the citizens,” he said.

“This constituency has been left at the mercy of fate during the three consecutive governments that came into being after the July 2021 polls. In fact, the capital and its adjoining areas have retrogressed to 50 years old times in terms of infrastructure development and advancement in other walks of life,” he observed.

Published in Dawn, December 8th, 2023