- Rana Sanaullah says PML-N won 25 seats in AJK elections.
- PML-N received a clear mandate from AJK people: Sanaullah.
- PM’s aide says banned JAAC wanted AJK polls to be delayed.
ISLAMABAD: Adviser to Prime Minister on Political Affairs Rana Sanaullah on Monday claimed that the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) has secured a two-thirds majority after three phases of the Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) elections.
Addressing a presser in the federal capital, Sanaullah said that his party would form the government in AJK with a two-thirds majority after reserved-seat elections.
“PML-N has secured a two-thirds majority in the 53-member assembly,” Sanaullah said, adding that the party had won 25 seats in the AJK elections.
The PML-N emerged as the leading party in AJK by securing 25 seats in the region’s elections held in three phases.
The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), which is an ally of the PML-N in the Centre, secured 11 seats and accused the PML-N of rigging in the AJK polls, with Sindh senior minister Sharjeel Memon saying the elections would be remembered in history as “Form 47 Plus”.
During today’s presser, the senior PML-N leader said that the party had received a clear mandate from the people to improve the situation in the region.
Sanaullah vowed that the PML-N government would fulfil the promises it had made to the people, saying elections could not be held on six seats due to law and order situation.
He thanked Awami Dast-o-Baazo party’s Sajid Iqbal — elected from LA-14 Bagh-I — for joining PML-N’s team for the development of the region.
“Sajid Iqbal will work with us for the betterment of Azad Kashmir,” he said.
Referring to the situation in AJK, he said those participating in the sit-in were their brothers, adding that around 1% to 1.5% of participants might be with elements seeking to provoke unrest.
“The people of Kashmir are as much owners of Pakistan as Pakistanis,” Sanaullah said.
According to the senior PML-N leader, the law and order situation in the region was the top priority for the party, reiterating that peaceful protest was every citizen’s right.
However, Sanaullah said that the proscribed Jammu Kashmir Joint Awami Action Committee (JAAC) wanted elections in AJK to be delayed, warning that the situation in the region could have worsened had the polls not been held.
The AJK government had declared JAAC a proscribed organisation on June 5 under the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA), accusing the group of involvement in terrorism.
The ban was imposed days before the committee’s planned June 9 protest demanding the abolition of 12 AJK Assembly seats reserved for refugees from Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) who migrated to Pakistan after 1947.
