Pre-poll frenzy : Centre, AJK in verbal duel over deadly clash

AJK govt announces black day as federal govt seeks Majeed’s resignation

MUZAFFARABAD/ISLAMABAD: A deadly clash between PPP and PML-N supporters in the Kotli district of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) triggered a war of words between the Centre and the PPP-led government in the region. One PPP worker was killed and four were wounded in the clash with PML-N activists ahead of the June elections to the AJK Legislative Assembly.

The PPP-led government of AJK announced on Sunday that it would observe a black day on Monday to protest the killing of the party supporter, Muhammad Munshi Khan, in the Nakyal area of Kotli. An official of the federal government, however, blamed AJK Prime Minister Chaudhry Abdul Majeed for the deadly clash and asked him to step down over his failure to protect the life and property of the people.



The AJK premier called upon PPP workers to stage protest rallies in all 10 districts of the state against the ‘brutal killing’. All shops and businesses remained closed in Nakyal on Saturday, and vehicular traffic was thin. PPP workers also burnt tyres on Nakyal-Kotli road and shouted slogans against the PML-N. Police have registered an FIR against unidentified men and detained 20 suspects in different areas of Nakyal.

On the other hand, Dr Asif Kirmani, an adviser to PM Nawaz Sharif, alleged that Chaudhry Majeed was in Nakyal and giving directions to his party activists during the clash. “The AJK government has failed to deliver while corruption is rampant in all state departments, therefore, Majeed should quit his office immediately,” he told a news conference in the federal capital.

He condemned the Nakyal clash which claimed a precious life.  “The incident shows the ulterior motives of  Majeed,” he said, adding that the AJK premier has distorted facts and conveyed wrong information to the PPP leadership.  “Asif Zardari and Bilawal Bhutto should depute some sane person to get correct information about the incident.”

Giving a different version of the incident, Dr Kirmani said participants of a PPP youth rally while passing through Nikyal Bazaar first chanted 'indecent and vulgar' slogans against the PML-N leadership and then started attacking shops and businesses owned by PML-N workers. “The PML-N workers then reacted in self-defence and a clash broke out resulting in the loss of a precious life, which is highly regrettable and condemnable,” he added.

Kirmani alleged that the AJK police also abetted the attackers. “A crackdown was launched against PML-N workers and their houses were raided by police who harassed women and children.”

He said the AJK PM refused to admit a judicial commission, which has been constituted by his own government to probe the deadly clash. “Majeed should wait for the commission to submit its report, which will bring facts before the people,” he added.

Meanwhile, addressing a press conference in the Centre Press Club of Muzaffarabad, PML-N’s AJK chapter president Farooq Haider appealed to the government to set up a judicial commission to investigate the incident and bring the culprits to book.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 15^th,  2016.