President Asif Ali Zardari contacted Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif over telephone to discuss the Pakistan People’s Party’s (PPP) decision to form a government in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK), taking the Prime Minister into confidence over the decision, sources said on Sunday.
According to party sources, Prime Minister Shehbaz has directed the AJK Affairs Committee of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) to hold negotiations with the PPP on the issue.
The committee is headed by Ahsan Iqbal, with Rana Sanaullah and Amir Muqam as members. Before initiating talks with the PPP, the committee had initiated consultations with the AJK leadership of the PML-N.
The Prime Minister also formed a separate committee, headed by Ahsan Iqbal, to determine whether or not the party should support the PPP’s bid for forming a government in AJK.
It is worth noting that the PML-N parliamentary party in AJK has already announced its decision to sit in opposition.
The PPP, however, is seeking support from the PML-N to install its own prime minister in AJK. If the PML-N declines, PPP leaders would consider reaching out to members of a 20-member forward bloc for support for government formation.
Read: PPP eyes AJK throne
Earlier, the PPP decided to form a new government in AJK after President Asif Ali Zardari approved a no-confidence motion against the incumbent AJK Prime Minister.
According to PPP AJK Chairman Chaudhry Yasin, the party has officially decided to move forward with the formation of its own government in the region. “The PPP has taken the final decision to form its government in Azad Kashmir,” Yasin told reporters after high-level party meetings in Islamabad.
He said the parliamentary party’s detailed consultations on the region’s political situation and government formation were held in two sessions – the first chaired by PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari and the second by President Asif Ali Zardari, who is also the party’s co-chairman.
“All members of the parliamentary party attended the meeting,” Yasin said, adding that the president approved the party’s decisions regarding AJK’s political strategy.
He confirmed that a no-confidence motion against the AJK Prime Minister would be filed next week. “The President approved the measure of censure against the Prime Minister of Azad Kashmir,” Yasin said.
He announced that Bilawal would unveil the name of the new candidate for the post of Prime Minister of AJK on Tuesday.
“President Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari will himself announce the name of the new prime minister,” Yasin said.
Yasin said the PPP and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) were “on the same page” in AJK politics, adding that “the PML-N will vote in our favor when the no-confidence motion is tabled.”
