AJK situation: MC forward bloc, PML members to meet Nawaz

By Tariq Naqash in The Dawn, Aug 30
MUZAFFARABAD, Aug 29: The joint parliamentary party of Muslim Conference forward bloc (MC-F) and People’s Muslim League (PML) will meet Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz leader Mian Mohammad Nawaz Sharif on Monday “to discuss the ongoing political situation in Azad Kashmir”.

Talking to Dawn here on Saturday, MC-F chief Raja Farooq Haider said meeting would be held at the Raiwind residence of Mr Sahrif.

“We will discuss political situation with him and extend an invitation to him for a visit to Azad Kashmir,” he added.

The strength of MC-F in the AJK Legislative Assembly is nine whereas the PML, headed by former prime minister Barrister Sultan Mehmood, has four lawmakers. Apart from these 13 MLAs, one member each of the two parties in the AJK Council will also be part of the delegation.

The MC-F and PML came close to each other in the wake of allotment by Prime Minister Sardar Mohammad Yaqoob Khan of the important portfolio of local government and rural development to his unelected adviser and PPAJK senior vice-president Chaudhry Mohammad Yasin on August 19.

The portfolio was bifurcated by the prime minister on August 25, giving ‘local government’ to Minister for Education (colleges) Sardar Naeem Khan (an MC-F member) and retaining the ‘rural development’ with Mr Yasin.

The MC-F and PML accuse the PPAJK of holding the AJK premier hostage and some federal ministers of meddling in the AJK affairs.

Interestingly, both parties desperately want to get political blessings of Mr Sharif to outsmart the rival MC faction, led by former AJK Prime Minister Sardar Attique Ahmed Khan.

Meanwhile, when contacted for his comments about the meeting, Sardar Attique said: “It’s a good thing. I think it will facilitate reunification of Muslim Conference and political stability of Azad Kashmir.”

He said Mr Sharif had no intentions of launching PML-N in Azad Kashmir.

He also accused the PPP-led central government of eroding the identity of Azad Kashmir which he said could only be countered by a strong Muslim Conference. www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/the-newspaper/national/ajk-situation-mc-forward-bloc%2C-pml-members-to-meet-nawaz-089