MUZAFFARABAD: Days before its exit from power, the incumbent Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) government has appointed seven members to Azad Jammu and Kashmir’s (AJK) Public Service Commission (PSC), the top recruitment body of AJK, a move that has raised questions about its propriety and timing.

According to a notification issued by the Services and General Administration Department, the appointments were made by the government in exercise of the powers conferred under Article 48(2) of the AJK Interim Constitution, 1974, read with Section 4(3) of the AJK Public Service Commission Act, 1986.

Those appointed include former secretaries Munir Hussain Chaudhary, Dr Chaudhry Liaqat Hussain and Mohammad Zahid Abbasi from the quota of retired government servants in BS-20 and above; former professor Dr Abdul Qadoos Khan and former vice chancellor Dr Abdul Hameed from the quota of educationists; former additional chief secretary Midhat Shehzad from the quota of women; and retired medical specialist Dr Mohammad Saleem Khan from the quota of professionals.

Under the Public Service Commission Act, seven members are to be appointed from among retired civil servants or other outstanding persons with a good reputation and an educational qualification of at least graduation from a recognised university. Three members are to be appointed from among educationists or scholars having a good reputation and at least 10 years’ experience in teaching, administration or both.

PML-N takes strong exception to move by outgoing PPP govt

The new members will have a three-year term and will be entitled to draw pay and allowances as prescribed, the notification said. It added that their appointments would take effect from the date they took oath of their respective offices in terms of Section 4-A of the AJK Public Service Commission Act, 1986.

Shahid Mehmood Wani, a senior PML-N leader who was also a member of the party’s election manifesto committee, took strong exception to what he described as the questionable propriety and timing of the appointments.

“Without questioning the competence or credentials of the individuals appointed, the propriety of making such appointments at this stage is certainly open to question. A government continuing in office as a transitional arrangement after the expiry of the assembly’s term, and having lost the people’s mandate, should ordinarily leave decisions of such long-term institutional consequence to the incoming elected government,” he said.

The AJK Public Service Commission has long faced criticism over delays in its constitution and allegations that its members are appointed on the basis of the preferences of the government of the day rather than through a transparent process.

In May 2023, when the three-year term of chairman retired Air Marshal Masood Akhtar and those of the commission’s members expired, the body was left without a complete composition for the next eight months.

The latest appointments come as the PPP government continues in office after the expiry of the AJK Legislative Assembly’s constitutional term of five years, pending completion of the election process. The PPP has also lost its majority in the elections held so far, with the PML-N emerging as the largest party and poised to form the next government.

Published in Dawn, August 10th, 2026