AJK Opposition leader’s position challenged

Yasin says petition politically motivated, but will appear before court

MUZAFFARABAD: The Azad Jammu and Kashmir High Court (AJKHC) on Friday accepted a petition against the Leader of the Opposition of the AJK Legislative Assembly.

The petition had been filed by Kotli Bar Association President Raja Akhtar who claimed that Opposition Leader Chaudhry Yasin did not enjoy the support of a majority of opposition members of the assembly.

In the house of 49 members, the Pakistan Peoples Party has four seats, the All Jammu and Kashmir Muslim Conference (AJKMC) has three, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has two, while JKPP has one. The one remaining opposition member, Ali Shan Soni, had contested as an independent.

In the petition, Akhtar said that the PTI, AJKMC and JKPP together have six members in the house while incumbent opposition leader only enjoys support from five opposition members. Hence, it contended that Yasin cannot remain the opposition leader.

Politically motivated

Meanwhile, Yasin has said that he would appear before the court and defend his position.

“The petition was moved on the instructions of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N),” Yasin said.

“Despite the fact that the petition was politically motivated and it should not be accepted for hearing, however, keeping in view the sanctity of the court, we will appear before the court,” he added.

The opposition leader claimed that besides the four members of the PPP, he also enjoys support from the PTI, AJKMC and Khalid Ibrahim as well.

Yasin was elected opposition leader in AJK legislative assembly in July 2016 when his party PPP appeared as the second largest party in the assembly.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 18^th, 2017.