MUZAFFARABAD:
PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari on Friday proposed greater constitutional powers for Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK), including representation in key institutions such as the National Finance Commission (NFC), Council of Common Interests (CCI) and the federal cabinet.
Bilawal formally launched the party’s election campaign for the upcoming AJK parliamentary elections at a public meeting in Dadyal in support of PPP candidate Afsar Shahid for LA-1 Dadyal. He urged voters to elect PPP to represent the voice of Kashmir at regional, national and international levels.
Bilawal outlined the PPP’s constitutional agenda and reiterated the party’s slogan of “right to rule, right to ownership and right to employment”, saying these principles would remain central to its program for AJK and Gilgit-Baltistan (GB).
He announced that the PPP would convene constitutional conventions in both regions after the elections to seek stakeholders’ input on future constitutional and legislative reforms. “Azad Kashmir should have stronger representation in national institutions including NFC and CCI,” he said.
He further suggested that AJK should eventually have its own foreign minister to represent the territory in the federal cabinet. “The Kashmiri political leaders should serve as a bridge between the people, Islamabad and the international community,” he added.
Terming the upcoming election as “the most significant in the history of AJK”, Bilawal said the polls gave the people of AJK an opportunity to entrust the PPP to represent their aspirations. “The legacy of the PPP founders, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and Benazir Bhutto, was rooted in standing with the oppressed.” Referring to the prevailing situation in AJK due to the protests of the banned Joint Awami Action Committee (JAAC), Bilawal reiterated his proposal to set up a “Truth and Reconciliation Commission” to address the grievances of all stakeholders.
He said he had responded to a letter from the protesters suggesting that once the commission was established, they should end their sit-in, while the state should suspend coercive measures until it completed its work. He added that neither the protesters nor the authorities had responded to his proposal.
He said the prevailing situation in the region posed a critical test of political leadership. “When political crises emerge, non-political and extremist elements take advantage of the vacuum,” Bilawal said, questioning what alternative was left if dialogue was rejected.
