MUZAFFARABAD: A cabinet member in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) has taken strong exception to the withdrawal of Prime Minister Chaudhry Abdul Majeed’s orders by acting premier Chaudhry Mohammad Yasin, maintaining that the move amounted to vindicating the allegations of opposition Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) against the Peoples Party-led government.

Abdul Majid Khan, minister for rehabilitation and population welfare, told Dawn on Saturday that he had conveyed his reservations to all concerned, including the central leadership of Pakistan Peoples Party.

“The prime minister (Chaudhry Majeed) had got his orders endorsed from the cabinet as well as the parliamentary party. It’s surprising that an individual has withdrawn them without any consultation with the cabinet or the parliamentary party,” he said, referring to the acting premier.

“If the withdrawal was inevitable, the acting prime minister should have referred the matter to the cabinet for a consensus decision,” he maintained.

Mr Khan was referring to the reinstatement of officers on special duty (OSDs) Chaudhry Munir Hussain and Idrees Tabassam as secretary Services and General Administration (S&GAD) and secretary religious affairs, respectively, as well as withdrawal of the amendments to the Rules of Business, 1985, and Secretariat Instruction Manual, 1979 on Friday, in a bid to what Mr Yasin had claimed “end deadlock between the offices of prime minister and chief secretary”.

Mr Khan pointed out that the PML-N had challenged these orders in the High Court for being “unlawful” and while the advocate general had sought time from the court to furnish reply, the acting prime minister had reversed them, which meant that he had ‘acknowledged and endorsed’ the opposition’s allegations.

“Whether the myopic people realise it or not, its a serious issue. Acting premier’s hasty step has cast aspersions on the government of his own party,” he said.

Mr Khan claimed that the move had filled many other cabinet members with indignation, but he had taken the lead in making his reaction public.

“I have also informed my central leadership that this step has badly eroded our credibility, integrity and identity, something the (AJK) government had been drumming about for long,” he said.