PML-N wants to delay AJK polls: PPP

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) upped the ante in its war of words with the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) on Monday, accusing Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s party of plotting to delay the July 21 elections in Azad Jammu and Kashmir.

Speaking at a news conference former prime minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf faulted PML-N workers for instigating a violent clash in Haveli to disturb law and order situation in AJK. Office-bearers of PPP’s AJK chapter were also present in the press conference.

A violent clash between PML-N and PPP in Haveli, a small town in Forward Kahuta, resulted in the death of five people while several others sustained injuries.  Both sides blame each other for the incident.

Ashraf said a judicial inquiry was important to determine the facts of the case. Despite spending federal resources, he said, the PML-N can foresee its defeat in AJK. To avoid embarrassment, it wants to delay polls on the pretext of deteriorating law and order situation in the region, he added.

The PPP is still the ruling party in AJK where the election campaign has gained momentum after Eid.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 12^th, 2016.