MUZAFFARABAD: Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi has “agreed in principle” to abolish the Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) Council in order to “empower the elected government” in Muzaffarabad.

The premier is reported to have said this at a high-level meeting with AJK Prime Minister Raja Farooq Haider in Islamabad, sources in the AJK government told Dawn on Wednesday.

The AJK prime minister was accompanied to the meeting by Finance Minister Dr Najeeb Naqi, Chief Secretary Dr Ijaz Munir and some senior bureaucrats while Prime Minister Abbasi was assisted by federal ministers Chaudhry Mahmood Bashir Virk and Chaudhry Barjees Tahir as well as some federal secretaries and senior officials.

The AJK Council was formed to ‘serve as a bridge’ between Islamabad and Muzaffarabad

The AJK Council was created under the AJK Interim Constitution Act 1974 to “serve as a bridge” between the governments in Muzaffarabad and Islamabad.

The Pakistani prime minister and federal minister for Kashmir affairs are its chairperson and in-charge minister respectively. Neither the chairperson nor the in-charge minister are answerable to the AJK institutions because they do not take oath under the AJK interim constitution which grants them these positions.

The institution, which has its secretariat in Islamabad, is seen as having divested the AJK government of many of its powers which it enjoyed under the previous interim constitution, Act 1970.

Before assuming his current office, Prime Minister Haider had often vowed to leave no stone unturned in having the council abolished.

In June 2015, when the PPP was in power in AJK, the Legislative Assembly had unanimously approved recommendations for constitutional reforms, which were prepared by a special eight-member parliamentary committee.

The recommendations, which envisaged curtailment of the powers of council among other things, were sent to the AJK law department, with a direction to table them in the Assembly in shape of a bill.

However, the matter failed to see any progress in the following months, notwithstanding the change of government in Muzaffarabad in 2016, mainly because of restrictions in the interim constitution on unilateral amendments about the issues related to the central government.

At Wednesday’s meeting, Prime Minister Haider did not discuss those recommendations in detail but focused on the outright abolition of the council, which he said was the “root of all problems”, the sources said.

The abolition of the council will empower the government in Muzaffarabad and will also do away with the impression among the younger generation that all powers were wielded by Islamabad, the sources quoted the AJK premier as saying.

He urged Prime Minister Abbasi to go for the complete abolition of the council, which he said had already been pledged by former prime minister Nawaz Sharif.

According to the sources, the federal Kashmir affairs minister said he had no objection to the abolition but there must be some mechanism for control from the centre in a territory widely alleged to be driven by “tribal considerations”.

He said there must have been some logic behind the perpetuation of the council or it would have been dissolved by any of the previous central governments.

Prime Minister Abbasi reportedly remarked that there was no logic other than to keep the AJK government impuissant.

Sources quoted the Pakistani premier as saying that the Kashmiri people are loyal and sympathetic to Pakistan and should be trusted to establish a responsible government in Muzaffarabad.

There is no point in retaining the council, let them address their problems themselves, he was quoted as saying on the occasion.

The sources said that the Pakistani premier also advised Prime Minister Haider to control his temper as some people were complaining about his attitude.

When asked, the AJK finance minister told Dawn that the AJK government had submitted a proposal for the abolition of the council in the same meeting.

“Mr Abbasi supported our idea and appeared very inclined towards doing away with the council,” he said, adding that the situation will be clear in a week.

A senior AJK official who is privy to the developments told Dawn that the AJK government was likely to send a summary to the federal government in light of the minutes of Wednesday’smeeting for its permission for tabling a bill in this regard in the competent forum.

The council currently has powers to legislate about 52 subjects. The AJK Department of Inland Revenue, AG Office and the Directorate General of Audit fall under the administrative control of Council. It enjoys authoritative role in the appointment of the judges of AJK high and supreme courts and the chief election commissioner.

Published in Dawn, February 15th, 2018