Delayed links to PML-N’s demand for early elections, the term of the current assembly ends in July, 2 months before the elections
The internal reshuffle in Azad Jammu and Kashmir has been delayed as the Pakistan People’s Party high command is yet to nominate an alternate leader of the house in the Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) assembly, causing repeated delays in moving a no-confidence motion, sources said.
Despite claiming a numerical majority, the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) has been struggling to assert its position for over a week and a half. Sources indicate that the decision to move the no-confidence motion is expected only after PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari returns to the country, Express news reported.
The delay is also reportedly linked to the PML-N’s demand for early elections, which would prevent the PPP from gaining political advantage through internal changes.
The current assembly’s term ends in July, and two months before the election, all development work typically ceases and authority over appointments and transfers is relinquished.
Read: Bilawal says PPP is in a strong position to form government in AJK
Sources say the PML-N is adamant about holding elections in March, meaning a new government would lose power in January, two months before the vote. In December and January, the PPP would not be able to achieve its political goals. The party’s insistence on completing the full term of the assembly is reportedly a key reason for the impasse.
Meanwhile, about 80% of AJK’s development budget remains unspent, and about 2,000 immediate recruitment positions, along with initiatives such as health cards, could offer political leverage to a new government.
Bilawal has claimed that the party is in a strong position to form the government in Azad Jammu and Kashmir as the incumbent prime minister faces a vote of no confidence.
The PPP has earlier announced its intention to form the government in AJK during a meeting chaired by President Asif Ali Zardari. The party’s Azad Kashmir parliamentary group also met in Islamabad to discuss the political landscape.
Read more: PPP secures simple majority to form government in AJK
On 26 October, ten members of the PTI’s forward bloc in AJK announced their decision to join the PPP, enabling the party to obtain the required majority. The following day, the PPP and PML-N agreed to move a no-confidence motion against the AJK government. PML-N leader Ahsan Iqbal said his party would support the motion from the opposition benches.
But a day later, in a surprise move, the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf announced it would distance itself from the opposition alliance’s no-confidence motion against the AJK PM and the subsequent process to elect a new prime minister, terming the move a “political game” aimed at undermining public representation.
