Assembly session ends, opposition walks out

AJK) newly-elected legislative assembly, lasted for an hour before descending into chaos

MUZAFFARABAD:

The first session of Azad Jammu and Kashmir’s (AJK) newly-elected legislative assembly, chaired by Speaker Ghulam Sadiq, lasted for an hour before descending into chaos beginning with the opposition’s decision to stage a walkout.

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) legislator Raja Naseer and others protested the seating of Muslim conference legislators on opposition benches, asking why they were not allotted seats on the treasury benches because they are part of the reconciliation with PPP government.

The short-lived assembly session concluded after Sadiq read the notification of adjournment.

Before the meeting was adjourned, the house adopted resolutions on uncovering mass graves in Indian Kashmir.

“This meeting assures the people of [Indian Kashmir] that the people of Pakistan and AJK are with them in their struggle for freedom,” read a resolution presented in the house by Choudhary Javed Budhanvi, PPP representative.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 19^th, 2011.