ISLAMABAD A political crisis in Azad Jammu and Kashmir continues and just 30 hours before the vote on a no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Raja Farooq Haider takes place, a faction of the ruling Muslim Conference which has moved the motion claimed that 18 of 24 cabinet members had resigned and deserted the premier. However, AJK Assembly Speaker Shah Ghulam Qadir, who is supporting the prime minister, told Dawn that he had not received any resignation. The no-confidence motion was submitted by 11 members on Friday and the speaker called a session of the AJK Legislative Assembly on Tuesday morning for a vote.
It will be the third time the assembly will vote on a no-confidence motion since its election in 2006. If the move succeeds, the people of Azad Kashmir will have their fourth prime minister in as many years.
Former prime minister Sardar Atique Ahmed Khan, who had been voted out through a no-confidence motion in January last year, has been nominated again as the Leader of the House.
A spokesman for Sardar Atique, who is spearheading the move against the prime minister of his own party, claimed on Sunday to have the support of 28 members -- more than the required number of 25 to get the no-confidence motion passed.
“We have also got an assurance from the opposition that if their votes are needed to carry the motion, we will get it,” the group's spokesman Wajid Bin Arif told Dawn.
The 13-member opposition in the 49-member AJK assembly comprises AJK People's Party, Muttahida Qaumi Movement and People's Muslim League of former prime minister Barrister Sultan Mehmood.
The spokesman provided the names of ministers who had sent their resignation to the prime minister and assured their support for Sardar Atique.
They are Chaudhry Mohammad Yousuf, Sardar Siab Khalid, Naheed Tariq, Dr Najeeb Naqi, Abdul Rashid Abbasi, Hafiz Hamid Raza, Pir Atiqur Rehman, Murtaza Ali Gilani, Col (retd) Naseem Khan, Chaudhry Mohammad Ismail, Ali Shan Soni, Mohammad Shafiq Jarral, Chaudhry Rukhsar, Farooq Tahir, Abdul Qayyum Niazi, Nasreen Rani, Shama Malik and Malik Nawaz.
NAWAZ CONTACTED The AJK speaker said PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif had been contacted on telephone and asked to form the party's chapter in Azad Kashmir. The PML-N has no organisation in the region.
Mr Qadir said that Prime Minister Raja Farooq had convened a meeting of party workers at Islamabad's Kashmir House on Sunday. It was attended by more than 500 activists.
The speaker claimed that the meeting had criticised the role of Sardar Atique and on the workers' insistence Mr Sharif had been contacted.
Answering a question, Mr Qadir said he was expecting a similar no-confidence motion against him and he was ready to face it.
AJK has been facing political instability since January 3 last year when some dissident members of the Muslim Conference formed a forward bloc and moved a no-confidence motion against then prime minister Sardar Atique seeking an in-house change.
Political analysts describe the new motion as a move to settle the score with Raja Farooq who, along with 16 members, had submitted the no-confidence motion against Sardar Atique after his government had been accused of massive corruption and malpractices.
Sardar Yaqoob became prime minister after the motion was supported by 31 members.
Differences cropped up in the ruling alliance again when two main allies in the Sardar Yaqoob government — the MC forward bloc led by Raja Farooq Haider and the PML of Barrister Sultan Mehmood — threatened to leave the government on the issue of appointment of a non-elected person as adviser.
This provided an opportunity to the factions of Muslim Conference led by Sardar Atique and Raja Farooq to reunite and they moved a no-confidence motion against Sardar Yaqoob in October last year.
Just one day before voting on the motion on October 14, Sardar Yaqoob resigned and Raja Farooq was elected prime minister with 29 votes.
