MUZAFFARABAD: The combined opposition in the Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) Legislative Assembly on Wednesday accused the PPP government of losing its majority and warned it would resist any attempt to derail the upcoming elections.
Addressing a crowded press conference at the Central Press Club, leaders of the opposition alliance — comprising the PML-N, the PTI and its dissidents — alleged that the government was evading constitutional accountability within the assembly.
PML-N regional president and Leader of the Opposition Shah Ghulam Qadir said a requisitioned session of the House, convened by the opposition, was abruptly adjourned despite quorum and agenda items.
“We ensured quorum. With business on the agenda, the sudden adjournment was incomprehensible,” he said, adding that at one stage only one minister was present to respond to questions.
Vows to resist ‘any attempt’ to derail polls
The session was prorogued before calling attention notices and resolutions could be taken up, prompting the opposition to pass what he described as an unprecedented resolution of condemnation against the government.
Mr Qadir claimed the PPP no longer commanded a majority in the House and accused it of making hasty appointments and distributing discretionary posts arbitrarily. Political advisers, he alleged, were being posted in the Kashmir Liberation Cell instead of subject experts.
Warning the government against what he termed complacency, he said: “If the PPP does not mend its ways, it will not take long to move a no-confidence motion. If they are under any illusion, they should disabuse themselves of it.”
However, he added that with elections approaching, the opposition did not wish to destabilise the system and would act within constitutional bounds. “The government will act, and we will react,” he said, making it clear that the opposition would not allow the assembly’s term to be extended “even by a single day”.
Referring to the Supreme Court’s restoration of the Third Party Act, he alleged that appointments were still being made without due process, including tests and interviews.
Former prime minister Raja Farooq Haider termed the present arrangement a deviation from what was initially agreed as a temporary set-up. He alleged that budgetary changes were being made without assembly approval and warned that the prime minister was “walking a tightrope”.
