MUZAFFARABAD:A day after the parliamentary party of Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) demanded a say in the appointment of the chief election commissioner (CEC) of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK), the regional head of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) said his party should also be consulted on the matter.

Interestingly, PML-N regional president Shah Ghulam Qadir raised this demand during a meeting with PPP’s Chaudhry Mohammad Riaz at the latter’s residence on Sunday, where the two leaders discussed the overall political situation in Azad Kashmir at length.

Mr Riaz, who hails from Faisalabad, is widely regarded as the key decision-maker in the PPP’s AJK chapter.

Both leaders agreed that if appointments to the offices of CEC and other major constitutional posts in AJK were made without consultation with the two largest parliamentary parties — PPP and PML-N — they would reject them outright.

They also vowed to chalk out a joint strategy in such a scenario.

However, the leaders clarified that the understanding did not extend to electoral alliances.

They categorically stated that PPP and PML-N would not field joint candidates in any constituency in next year’s general elections, but would contest independently across the board.

Meanwhile, Mr Qadir’s statement stirred controversy within his own party after his predecessor and former AJK premier Raja Farooq Haider opposed the idea in a social media post.

“In the spirit of the Constitution, the Leader of the House and the Leader of the Opposition are bound to jointly forward names for the appointment of the CEC, while the final decision rests with the Chairman of the Kashmir Council [the Prime Minister of Pakistan].”

“The Constitution does not mention consultation with political parties. Therefore, the head of the party [PML-N] should issue a statement on constitutional matters after consultations, since the Council Chairman’s decision will be final,” Mr Haider wrote on his verified account.

Mr Qadir quickly hit back, insisting his position had been misinterpreted.

“It seems Mr Haider did not carefully read the statement issued after my meeting with PPP leader Chaudhry Mohammad Riaz. Our interpretation of the Constitution is exactly as he stated, and we fully believe in its protection,” he said.

“The point is that had there been a single-party government, the Leader of the House could have finalised recommendations for the CEC and other constitutional offices in consultation with his own party.

But the present AJK government is a coalition of two parties alongside the PTI’s forward bloc, which makes it imperative for the Leader of the House to consult both major parliamentary parties before proposing names. Otherwise, a unilateral approach would damage AJK’s democratic system,” he asserted.

Commenting on the unfolding spat, political analyst Amer Mehboob remarked: “Does the PML-N even need an enemy? Prime Minister Chaudhry Anwarul Haq has created such a gulf between these two leaders for his own vested interests that, instead of speaking directly, they now resort to conveying messages to each other through social media.”

Published in Dawn, August 25th, 2025