AJK PM Chaudhry Abdul Majeed. PHOTO: AFP
Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) has rejected rigging allegations in a recent by-election saying no political party has submitted complaint on the issue. He defended his decision of calling in Rangers for maintaining law, order.
Prime Minister Chaudhry Abdul Majeed had taken exception to the calling in of Rangers during the by-elections for Azad Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly Poonch-VI Sudhnuti Baloch constituency without his consent and removed chief secretary and police chief.
“Prime Minister of Azad Kashmir has questioned transparency of the by-elections which is unfortunate,” CEC Justice Muneer Ahmad Chaudhry remarked while talking to media here on Wednesday.
He said the commission took the decision using its constitutional powers without taking the PM into confidence.
“The AJK constitution does not allow me to follow the order of the head of a political party”, the CEC said referring to the PM who is also head of the PPP AJK chapter.
Chaudhry said he followed the proper way to call in Rangers to maintain peace and security that does not need any prior approval from the prime minister as his party candidate Sardar Fahim Akhtar Rabbani was also contesting the by-election.
In a related development Prime Minister Chaudhry Abdul Majeed has removed the Secretary Services Chaudhry Munir from his post making him officer on special duty (OSD), a term used for punishment of an official in the bureaucratic system, appointing Khwaja Ahsan in his place, sources in the administration told The Express Tribune.
Earlier on February 23 the prime minister had directed Chief Secretary Khizer Hayat Gondal and Inspector General of Police Malik Khuda Bakhsh Awan to leave Azad Kashmir and report to the Establishment Division in Islamabad, accusing them of “misconduct, violation of chain of command, and rule of business”.
However, both the officers in defiance of the order continue to hold their posts.
CEC Justice Muneer Ahmad Chaudhry said that Rangers were called in to maintain peace and ensure transparency.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 27th, 2014.
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