PPP chairman outlines AJK agenda, renews Truth Commission demand, urges dialogue on unrest
PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari addresses an election rally in Kotli ahead of the July 27 elections in Azad Jammu and Kashmir on Sunday. SCREEN CAPTURE
Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari on Sunday promised greater constitutional rights for Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK), renewed his call for setting up a Truth and Reconciliation Commission to address the recent unrest in AJK and urged the federal government to restore internet services immediately.
At a public rally in Kotli ahead of the July 27 elections in the region, Bilawal said the PPP would seek observer representation for AJK in Pakistan’s key constitutional institutions, including the Council of Common Interests (CCI), the National Finance Commission (NFC) and the National Assembly.
Presenting the PPP’s election agenda, Bilawal said his party stood for the “right to govern, the right to property and the right to employment”, adding that AJK’s natural resources belonged to its people.
Read: Bilawal criticizes the government for punishing the entire AJK for the actions of the protesters
He said the proposal called for protesters to suspend demonstrations while the state halted actions until an independent investigation completed its findings.
Urging dialogue, Bilawal said neither protesters nor government representatives had responded to the proposal and called on the federal government to restore internet services, saying ordinary people of AJK should not suffer due to the dispute.
The PPP president also accused his political rivals of victimizing his party workers through police cases and expressed confidence that PPP candidates would secure victories across Kotli district.
He urged voters to give his party a stronger mandate in the upcoming elections, saying political circumstances were more favorable for the PPP than during the last elections.
Bilawal said the party had received a large number of applications from aspiring candidates, making the ticket distribution process difficult. However, he said he had directed the party leadership to grant tickets only to party loyal workers.
Referring to the previous AJK elections, he said Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) was in power in the region while Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) headed the federal government. Despite these circumstances, he claimed, the PPP had built substantial public support and, in his view, had effectively won the election.
Read also: Bilawal proposes truth and reconciliation commissions for AJK
He said the situation had changed since then, noting that the PPP had been in power in AJK for the last six months, while the federal government was led by “our friend Shehbaz Sharif”.
He said the PPP would not face the same challenges it had encountered in previous elections and appealed to voters to support the party in greater numbers than in recent polls.
The AJK elections on July 27, he said, will determine whether people will support the PPP’s vision of greater political rights and economic opportunities in the region.
