ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf has demanded re-elections in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) after releasing a white paper on “rigging in the recent AJK polls” at a press conference on Friday.

Speaking at the press conference, the party’s AJK president, Barrister Sultan Mahmood Chaudhry, said that a copy of the document had been sent to Chief of the Army Staff Gen Raheel Sharif along with a letter asking him to conduct an inquiry into the matter.

Mr Chaudhry, who is also a former prime minister of AJK, alleged that the chief secretary and the IG in AJK were appointed by the centre and they played a key role in “stealing the elections”.

He proposed that the next elections in AJK be held in 2018 on the same date along with the general polls in Pakistan to prevent undue interference of the centre.

He called for formation of an interim government in AJK with representation from all political parties with a view to improving institutions.

The PTI leader alleged that a Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) candidate had been given Rs20 million out of the AJK council funds as part of the rigging and claimed to have video footage of the candidate concerned who managed to win and has confessed to receiving the amount.

The white paper, he said, also contained proof of announcements of schemes and disbursement of cash for purchasing votes.

He added that the paper contained a notification under which the AJK council created an internal cell for implementation of development schemes instead of going through the local government ministry.

He alleged that a close friend of the sitting Minister for Kashmir Affairs Chaudhry Birjees Tahir had been given a key position in the cell.

The barrister claimed that the paper included clippings of various newspapers about announcement of Rs50 billion package by the federal government and other relevant material.

He said that the National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra) excluded names of about 15,000 voters from each constituency and then included 10,000 votes in each constituency as per aspirations of the PML-N candidates.

Mr Chaudhry said that things were manipulated by the centre to defeat him.

He said this had been done to stop him from raising the Kashmir issue on international forums.

He, however, announced that he would be proceeding abroad today (Saturday) to continue his mission of highlighting the Kashmir issue in its true perspective at the international level.

He said that he had been exposing the sham elections India staged in held Kashmir to hoodwink the world, and it was “with a heavy heart” that he was compelled to expose rigging in AJK.

“Rigging in AJK elections will seriously affect the Kashmir cause,” he added.

Published in Dawn, August 20th, 2016