Haider's remarks 'sheer frustration' after humiliating AJK defeat: PTI leader

A senior leader of the PTI on Wednesday took strong exception to a volley of allegations levelled by outgoing Azad Jammu and Kashmir Prime Minister Raja Farooq Haider and other leaders of PML-N against his party “out of sheer frustration in the wake of a humiliating defeat” in the AJK polls.

“Allegations of money laundering and use of money by the [PTI-led] central government in the July 25 elections are highly condemnable for two reasons. One: they are a pack of lies and deceitful and two: they are aimed at providing material to India’s propaganda machinery. On the one hand, they are creating misunderstandings between the Kashmiris and Pakistan due to vested interests on the other,” said Khawaja Farooq Ahmed, PTI’s central joint secretary, during a conversation with reporters.

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Ahmed said that though he and his party could understand well that why Haider and the PML-N leadership were in a state of utter shock, yet he believed that such language was unbecoming of a person holding the top office in the base camp of freedom struggle.

The PTI’s central joint secretary said that the defeat suffered by the PML-N in AJK was the writing on the wall which was being read by all and sundry in AJK since long except Haider and his visiting leaders from Pakistan owing to their “ostrich-like approach”.

“Instead of spending it on the welfare of the common man over the past five years, the PML-N government led by Haider squandered public money by enjoying the status, undertaking unnecessary foreign tours, increasing personal emoluments, perks and privileges as well as that of the bureaucracy to name a few,” he said.

Ahmed claimed that even the PML-N workers in AJK were unhappy with the performance of their government and they too had taken their revenge in elections.

“A government which miserably failed to satisfy its own workers, let alone the rest of the population, is now laying the blame of its disastrous defeat on the government of Pakistan which is very unfortunate," he added.

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The PTI leader pointed out that the Election Commission was constituted by the former premier himself by exercising his will and he also held sway in administrative matters till the last moment, yet he was hurling one after the other allegation against the government of Pakistan.

"What else this demonstrates except sheer frustration."

The PTI leaders also took exception to the visiting PML-N leaders from Pakistan, saying that they had desperately tried to play the "Kashmir card" by hurling unfounded accusations at Prime Minister Imran Khan.

“However, their narrative was thrown by the Kashmiris into the bin by giving their mandate to the PTI.”

To a question, Ahmed said that his success from the most difficult constituency, with the overwhelming majority of educated voters, was a vindication of the vision, aims and objectives of PM Imran.

“While I owe him a debt of gratitude for the very reason, I dedicate my success to the people of Muzaffarabad as well as to the people of Srinagar, who are very close to the heart of our leader,” he added.