Jailed PTI leaders urge AJK poll participation

ISLAMABAD:

Senior jailed leaders of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) on Thursday urged the party leadership to participate in the upcoming Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) elections, asking the party to field PTI-backed candidates despite the legal uncertainty surrounding its status.

According to party sources, imprisoned PTI leaders, including Dr Yasmin Rashid and Shah Mahmood Qureshi, sent a letter to the party chairman and secretary general requesting that the party remain in the electoral process.

The message was conveyed to the leadership through their legal counsel.

According to the contents of the letter, the jailed leaders held consultations on the AJK elections before reaching a consensus on the issue.

"We have consulted on the Azad Kashmir elections and have reached the conclusion," the letter states.

"We have decided that PTI-supported candidates should participate in the electoral process," it adds.

The letter further urges the party to publicly announce the names of all candidates who would contest the elections with PTI's backing.

"The party should publish the names of all those candidates who will be its supported candidates," the letter says.

The appeal comes as PTI announced that it would not participate in the AJK elections under the prevailing political circumstances, saying it would stay away from the electoral process until normalcy was restored in the region.