The PTI has also cited arrests of political workers and restrictions on media coverage.
ISLAMABAD:
PTI President Gohar Ali Khan on Monday indicated that the party may reconsider its decision to boycott the upcoming Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) Legislative Assembly elections if it is provided with a level playing field and its leaders and workers are not subjected to arrests and repression.
Speaking to reporters, Gohar said the boycott decision was taken after consultations with the party’s parliamentary wing, its allies and the PTI leadership in AJK. He said the absence of a free political environment had left the party with no other option.
“PTI was forced to boycott the AJK elections, but in politics nothing is final. If we are provided with a free and conducive environment, we can reconsider the decision to boycott,” he said.
He said the PTI believed in democracy and described the boycott as a difficult decision, adding that the party could return to the electoral process if its leaders and workers were spared arrests and repression.
The comments came four days after the PTI formally announced that it would not participate in the AJK Legislative Assembly elections scheduled for July 27.
The party’s regional president and former AJK prime minister Sardar Abdul Qayyum Niazi said the decision was taken in solidarity with the people of the region amid what the party described as a deepening political and humanitarian crisis and was “not a political strategy”.
The boycott followed weeks of unrest in AJK after the government banned the Joint Awami Action Committee (Jaac) under anti-terrorism legislation.
Jaac has continued protests despite the ban, while clashes between protesters and security forces have left several people dead, and authorities and the group have given different accounts of the victims.
The PTI has also cited arrests of political workers, restrictions on media coverage and disruption of supply lines from Punjab as reasons why the upcoming elections cannot be considered credible under the prevailing circumstances.
The party has suspended all recommendations on ticket distribution for its AJK candidates pending a review of the situation.
Meanwhile, the legal status of the PTI in AJK remains unresolved. The AJK High Court had earlier reinstated the party’s registration and ordered the reinstatement of its electoral symbol, the bat, after the AJK Election Commission decided to revoke it.
The election commission subsequently challenged the high court’s order before the AJK High Court, which on July 3 adjourned the hearing of the case. With the court’s summer recess continuing through Oct. 7, it is unlikely the matter will be decided before Election Day.
