AJK shuts to mark black day

MUZAFFARABAD: The Azad Jammu & Kashmir (AJK) government observed a black day on Monday against the killing of a ruling party activist in an electioneering rally. Rallies and protests were staged in different cities but the government failed to bring about a complete shutter down.

Tensions have been simmering between the Centre and the AJK government since a Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) worker was shot dead and four more were wounded in the clash with Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) activists two days ago in the Nakyal area of Kotli. Elections for the AJK Legislative Assembly are scheduled in June.



Addressing a rally in Kotli, AJK Prime Minister Chaudhry Abdul Majeed blamed the PML-N leaders for the deadly clash. “The federal ministers who delivered provocative speeches are behind the killing of the PPP activist,” he added.

Majeed said the party would not allow the PML-N central leadership to steal the mandate of the people in the coming elections.

In Muzaffarabad however, the ruling party failed to pull in large crowds on the streets. Shops and business centres also remained open in almost all major areas.

PML-N Secretary General Shah Ghulam Qadir said the PPP was trying to play politics over the body of its slain activist. “Chaudhry Majeed was present when the clash took place. Whenever the killing is probed, he will have to answer,” he added.



‘Dictatorial tactics’

In the National Assembly session in Islamabad, the opposition PPP also staged a walkout against the murder of its worker.

At the beginning of the session, opposition leader Khursheed Shah criticised the government’s “dictatorial tactics and brazen killings” of innocent citizens. “The PML-N has become a party having no qualms about killing. The Model Town killings have made it fearless as evident from the recent Kotli and Karachi [PIA] shootings,” he said.

The opposition leader said PPP legislators would have been hanged by now had the killings been done in Karachi or Peshawar. “These are the times when the prime minister is getting dictations from his ministers,” he added.

As the opposition members returned gradually, Information Minister Pervaiz Rashid told the assembly a joint investigation team had been set up to investigate the incident and when the report would lay bare the facts. “We should wait for the findings of the judicial commission,” he said, condemning the arrest of the PML-N workers.

The minister said the unfortunate incident occurred because of the provocative language used in the PPP rally in Kotli.

“We were given a newspaper of Azad Kashmir which carried a threatening and provocative statement of the AJK prime minister. But we did not respond to his statement,” he added.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, February 16^th, 2016.