PML-N's position in AJK further strengthens

MUZAFFARABAD:

Sajid Iqbal Abbasi, who won the LA-14 Dhirkot seat in the recently held Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) elections on the Awami Dast-e-Bazu party ticket, has decided to support the PML-N, further strengthening the party's position as it moves to form the next government in AJK.

Adviser to the Prime Minister on Political Affairs Rana Sanaullah announced this during a press conference on Monday. He said Abbasi had become part of the PML-N team and would work with the party for the development of his constituency.

"Both Raja Faisal Ejaz and Sajid Iqbal will work together like brothers for the development of the Dhirkot constituency," Sanaullah said, referring to the PML-N candidate who contested against Iqbal in LA-14.

He said the PML-N respected the verdict of the people of LA-14 and welcomed Abbasi's decision to support the party for the development of the constituency.

Sanaullah said the people of AJK had expressed confidence in the PML-N, particularly in Muzaffarabad and Mirpur divisions and expressed hope that the party would eventually secure a two-thirds majority.

He said AJK urgently needed development and the new government would have the mandate and authority to take decisions within the framework of the Constitution and the law.

Referring to the overall election process, he said around 56 per cent of voters had participated in the elections, describing the turnout as evidence of public confidence in the democratic process across AJK.

On protests against the election results, the adviser said the PML-N considers the protesters as brothers and that 99 per cent of them are patriotic. "Our Kashmiri brothers have as much right over Pakistan as citizens of any other part of the country," he said.

Responding to objections raised by the PPP over the election results, he urged

political parties to adopt legal channels instead of making allegations.