MUZAFFARABAD: PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif on Friday promised an international airport for Mirpur,the revival of the long-stalled Mansehra-Muzaffarabad-Mirpur motorway project, and a series of health, education and transport initiatives for Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK), as he and Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz made a final push for the party’s candidates two days ahead of the first phase of elections.

Addressing a large public meeting in the lakeside city of Mirpur, the father-daughter duo repeatedly invoked their Kashmiri roots and told supporters that AJK needed the same infrastructure and welfare-focused governance that had been introduced in Punjab, arguing that a PML-N government in the region would usher in a new era of development and public welfare.

Most of the supporters were holding flags of Pakistan, AJK and the PML-N, as well as placards bearing portraits of the party leadership and electoral candidates.

Unlike his address in Muzaffarabad earlier this week, Mr Sharif mentioned all the party’s candidates from Mirpur division by name and said the enthusiasm displayed by the gathering had convinced him they were headed for victory.

Describing Kashmir as his “first home”, Mr Sharif said he shared a deep emotional bond with the region and regretted that projects initiated during his tenure as prime minister had remained unfinished after his removal from office.

“We have come with a pledge that, God willing, we will change the destiny of Mirpur and all of Azad Kashmir,” he said, while asking successive governments in Pakistan and AJK what they had done for the region since his ouster.

He said the PML-N’s manifesto accorded priority to education and healthcare, promising new schools, colleges and universities as well as hospitals equipped with CT scanners and MRI facilities so that residents could not have to travel to Pakistan for treatment.

He also announced a gift of 10 ‘Hospitals on Wheels’ and as many electric green buses for Mirpur from the Punjab government.

Speaking after him, Ms Nawaz defended her assertion that she was “the daughter of Kashmir”, saying both her parents and grandparents were of Kashmiri origin.

“If someone is Kashmiri by ancestry, heart, mind and soul, then what else should I call myself?” she said.

Published in Dawn, July 25th, 2026