Ajk 68th foundation day: Ministers missing at ceremony

MUZAFFARABAD: None of the 23 ministers of the Azad Jammu and Kashmir cabinet could spare time to join AJK President Sardar Muhammad Yaqoob Khan on Saturday for the flag-hoisting ceremony marking the 68th Foundation Day of the state. The elected representatives, who spend over Rs42 billion annually on non-development expenditure, failed to spare a few minutes to join the president for the occasion. The ceremony was shifted from the Police Lines to the President Secretariat due to the Ashura processions. IGP Malik Khuda Buksh Awan also attended the flag-hoisting ceremony. An active contingent of AJK police presented a guard honour to the president. On the occasion, AJK President Sardar Yaqoob Khan said the world community should take notice of the beef ban in Indian Kashmir, adding that Kashmiris believed in peace and coexistence.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 26^th, 2015.