Maryam to lead PML-N poll campaign in AJK

In the midst of major parties feverishly rallying to emerge victorious in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) polls, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supremo Nawaz Sharif has decided to put Maryam Nawaz to the forefront of the election campaign instead of Shehbaz Sharif, party sources said on Monday.

Sources in the party said the decision to hand over the campaign to PML-N Vice President Maryam Nawaz was taken after Nawaz Sharif and Shehbaz Sharif spoke on the phone to deliberate over the party’s strategy in the heavily charged elections in the state.

Both leaders agreed that Maryam and Shehbaz will lead and address public gatherings separately, and will rally around the incumbent government’s “failed” Kashmir policy and rising inflation to muster support.

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Meanwhile, Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, who is already in the state, continues to lead the party’s campaign to woo voters and galvanise support ahead of the election slated for July 25.

On Sunday, All Jammu and Kashmir Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam announced it would support Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) candidates in the upcoming elections.

Earlier, PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto had alleged that attempts were being made by the ruling PTI to rig the elections and impose a "puppet" government in the state.Bilawal fired a broadside at Prime Minister Imran Khan, saying the latter was trying to rig the upcoming election in Kashmir “because he himself is a product of rigged elections”.