AJK govt to protest outside PM’s Office over ‘non-payment of funds’

ISLAMABAD: The Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) government has announced to stage a sit-in outside Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) in Islamabad over ‘non-payment of development funds’, ARY News reported on Saturday.

In a statement, senior Parliamentarian and Adviser to Azad Kashmir Prime Minister (PM) Muhammad Hussain has criticised the federal government for not ‘releasing’ the funds, saying that they would move Supreme Court (SC) against the ‘injustice’.

Muhammad Hussain noted that AJK PM Sardar Tanveer Ilyas held local government (LG) elections after 31 years. “How we can entertain the elected local body representatives if funds are not issued,” he asked.

He alleged that the federal government has cut Rs15 billion from the annual budget of Azad Kashmir, warning of a sit-in outside Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) in Islamabad if development funds are not released.

It is pertinent to mention here that Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) took a commanding lead over its opponents in the third and final phase of the AJK local government (LG) polls in the third phase.

According to the unofficial and unconfirmed results of 1050 seats out of a total 1,083, the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) secured 361 seats. Independent candidates remain second on the list with 309 seats.

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) has grabbed 225 seats, followed by Pakistan People’s Party with 138 seats. Tehreek-e-Labaik Pakistan secured eight seats and AJK Muslim Conference and JUI secured eight and one seat respectively.