PTI rejects AJK polls, calls for judicial probe into violence

The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf on Wednesday rejected the recent elections in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK), terming the electoral process as “fraud”, and condemned the violence in the region, which it said was sending a wrong message internationally and harming the Kashmir cause.

Reports of several deaths and injuries have emerged on social media since Monday in Rawalakot, Mirpur and other areas. Several videos circulating online showed scenes of unrest, with allegations of violence and casualties, although details could not be independently verified. Security forces and the banned Awami Joint Action Committee (JAAC) claimed loss of life on both sides.

The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan and opposition parties on Tuesday demanded an impartial and independent investigation into reports of deaths and injuries.

Addressing a press conference alongside PTI Chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan today, former AJK Prime Minister Sardar Qayyum Niazi said Kashmiris were being subjected to unprecedented oppression and brutality.

“Kashmiris are being crushed in an unprecedented manner. These are the same Kashmiris who passed the resolution for accession to Pakistan on July 19, 1947, even before the creation of Pakistan,” he said.

Read: AJK police say JAAC works on ‘specific agenda’, accuse protesters of using automatic weapons

He said the protesters had made all their efforts to reach an agreement, but when they realized their demands were no longer being heard, they announced a demonstration for June 9.

“They are peaceful people and they remain so today. Tell me, has any member of our forces been shot or beaten with batons there? These people are taking bullets, but they continue to stand peacefully,” he said.

Questioning the decision to hold the elections in three phases, Niazi said AJK had a population of only 3.5-4 million.

“Pakistan has a population of 250 million and holds elections in a single phase. What is the need for three phases here? What kind of design is being implemented in Kashmir?” he asked.

Niazi claimed that protesters were being killed in Kashmir and their bodies being made to disappear. He urged the authorities not to treat Kashmiris in this manner, saying AJK was the base camp of the Kashmir freedom movement and the current situation was sending a wrong message to the world.

“We used to send Kashmiri delegations across the world. We used to sit in the United Nations and in front of the British Parliament to highlight the atrocities committed against Kashmiris in occupied Kashmir. Today we are no longer able to show our faces because of what is happening in Azad Kashmir,” he said.

Read also: PPP criticizes AJK Election Commission, says it is ‘also responsible for rigging’ in elections

Lashing out at the government over the violence in the region, Niazi urged authorities to change their approach, saying AJK cannot tolerate the use of force to suppress those who raise their voices.

“Force should never have been used there,” he said.

“The eyes of the entire world are fixed on Kashmir. Our eternal enemy India is pushing its narrative of Akhand Bharat before the world. Do we want to offer it Kashmir on a platter? We need to change this approach,” the former prime minister said.

He said the PTI boycotted the elections because it knew they would be “controversial and pre-arranged”, saying it had already been decided that the government would be handed over to the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz and the existing system would continue in the same manner.

Terming the polls as “fake”, Niazi demanded the formation of a national government in the region until the situation returns to normal, after which free and transparent elections should be held in which the PTI would also participate.

He said the people of AJK had categorically rejected the recent elections and urged the authorities to handle this issue with utmost caution and resolve it through dialogue.

“Kashmiris are Pakistanis and their heart beats with Pakistan. Some people are creating misunderstandings. There are no terrorists there. These are the same people who until yesterday were sitting around the table presenting their demands. When the situation deteriorated, they suddenly became terrorists,” he said, appealing to the authorities not to further aggravate the situation and instead work towards returning to normalcy.

Meanwhile, Gohar criticized the recent electoral process and claimed that the July 27 elections were “a fraud” on the region’s population.

“You all witnessed the elections of the 27th. In the name of elections, it was a fraud. Everyone will now have to accept that using bullets and batons, repressing the people, reducing them to silence and preventing them from demonstrating is not the solution to the problems. Listening to the people is democracy,” he said.

Condemning the recent situation in AJK, Gohar also criticized Pakistan People’s Party and PML-N for politicizing the issue.

“We openly claim that there were dead bodies there, people were covered in blood and the political parties played politics over it. One congratulated the other, while the other complained that the elections were rigged against them,” he said, adding that both parties had remained in power under the system in place for the last 40 years and lost in their respective provinces.

He said the low turnout in the elections themselves reflected popular rejection of both parties.

“Such a low turnout reflects a vote of no confidence in the entire system and these two parties. It is a referendum against them,” Gohar said.

Describing the mainstream politics as being driven by vested interests, he said it was harming the cause of Kashmir and urged all stakeholders to act wisely.

“Kashmir is very sensitive. Every Kashmiri is Pakistani and every Pakistani is Kashmiri. Kashmir will neither become Kashmir nor Lahore. Kashmir is Pakistan’s jugular vein and will remain its jugular vein, and we will not allow any harm to its cause,” he said.

Gohar said his party condemned the bloodshed and firing against people during the recent elections, rejected the July 27 elections and demanded a judicial inquiry into the incidents.

He also demanded the immediate cancellation of the remaining two phases of the elections, scheduled for August 2 and 10, called for the resignation of the AJK government and demanded the formation of a national government.

“We demand that the national government proceed wisely, adopt dialogue, listen to the problems of the people and take necessary measures,” he said, demanding free, fair and transparent elections in AJK in a single phase under the supervision of an independent and impartial Election Commission.