MUZAFFARABAD: The Election Commission of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) has restored the membership of two lawmakers whose seats had been suspended for failing to submit their asset details for the financial year 2024–25 within the stipulated time.

The restoration followed the submission of the required statements by Mohammad Akmal Sargala (LA-37 Jammu-IV) and Ghulam Mohiuddin Deevan (LA-41 Valley-II), according to an official press release issued on Friday.

Under Subsection (4) of Section 78 of the AJK Elections Act, 2020, every member of the Legislative Assembly is required to submit, by Dec 31 each year, details of their own assets as well as those of their dependent spouse and children, as of June 30 of that year.

The commission had earlier identified three lawmakers — Mr Sargala, Mr Deevan and Mohammad Iqbal, who holds a reserved seat for overseas Kashmiris — as defaulters for failing to comply with the requirement within the prescribed timeframe.

Subsequently, reminders were issued through press releases on Jan 5 and Feb 24, 2026, granting an additional 10 days for compliance and warning that failure to do so would result in suspension of membership.

Despite the warnings, all three lawmakers failed to submit their asset statements, leading to the suspension of their membership under Subsection (6) of Section 78 of the AJK Elections Act, 2020.

However, the commission said on Friday that Mr Sargala and Mr Deevan had since furnished the required details, resulting in the restoration of their membership. There was no word from the commission regarding Mr Iqbal.

All three lawmakers were elected on Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) tickets in July 2021 but later pursued divergent political paths.

Mr Sargala joined the party’s so-called forward bloc formed after the ouster of Sardar Tanveer Ilyas’s government in April 2023 and became part of the ruling coalition led by Prime Minister Chaudhry Anwarul Haq. He later formally joined the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) in July 2025, having earlier contested — unsuccessfully — a Punjab Assembly seat on its ticket in the February 2024 general elections.

Mr Iqbal, who had no prior political background in AJK, was elected to a reserved seat on the nomination of PTI founder Imran Khan. Following the 2023 political upheaval, he returned to the United Kingdom and has not attended any assembly session since. Although reports of his resignation surfaced on social media last year, sources in the assembly secretariat said no such resignation had been received.

Mr Deevan, who is based in Lahore, has retained his association with the PTI and is regarded as a loyalist.

Published in Dawn, March 28th, 2026