Resolution withdrawn: AJK premier gets ‘tainted’ trust vote

Opposition cries foul, insists Ch Abdul Majeed failed to secure simple majority.

MUZAFFARABAD:

In a bid to stave off the possibility of a no-trust motion for the next six months, the Pakistan Peoples Party on Saturday gave a vote of confidence to Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) Prime Minister Chaudhry Abdul Majeed.

The PPP-forward bloc in the AJK Legislative Assembly had earlier tried to oust the prime minister by pressing for a parliamentary vote.

However, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Friday directed his party representatives in the legislature not to take part in any move to topple the AJK prime minister. The whole plot floundered after the PPP forward bloc withdrew the move before the Azad Jammu and Kashmir High Court on Friday.

The special session of the AJK Legislative Assembly, which was called by AJK President Sardar Yaqoob Khan to take up the no-trust motion, was attended by only 17 ruling party members. Neither the movers of the no-trust move, nor members of opposition parties attended the session.

The movers said they had already withdrawn the resolution on Friday.



They also claimed the session was unlawful as it was convened to create an impression that the no-trust motion was defeated and that no fresh move could be initiated for at least six months.

Apparently AJK Assembly Speaker Sardar Ghulam Sadiq asked members of the house to raise their hands if they supported the no-trust motion. In the absence of opposition members, Sadiq declared that the motion was unsuccessful as there was no vote in its favour.

‘Unlawful session’

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Azad Kashmir president and Leader of the Opposition Raja Farooq Haider Khan has termed the assembly session “unlawful and against the AJK Constitution.”

Khan talking to The Express Tribune said the full bench of Azad Jammu Kashmir High Court (AJKHC) had stopped the AJK Assembly speaker from summoning and presiding over the session.

Prime Minister Chaudhry Abdul Majeed, according to him, failed to secure the simple majority for his vote of confidence, as there were only 17 instead of 25 legislators in the 48-member house.

He called upon the AJK prime minister to resign after losing majority in the house.

Majeed lauds PM Nawaz

“Our party doors are open for everyone except Barrister Sultan Mahmood Chaudhry,”  Abdul Majeed told a press conference.

Majeed hailed Nawaz Sharif for barring his party members from becoming part of the no-confidence move.

Meanwhile, the services and general administration has issued a notification of the removal of Law Minister Azhar Gilani, Minister for Industries Akbar Ibrahim, Minister for Revenue Ali Shan Soni, advisers to AJK PM Dewan Mohaideen, Sardar Raziq and Musadiq Hamid. “Three ministers were removed as they did not attend Saturday’s session,” sources told The Express Tribune.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 28^th, 2013.