PPP chairman outlines AJK agenda, renews Truth Commission demand and urges dialogue on unrest
\n Kotli
\nPakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari on Sunday promised greater constitutional rights for Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK), renewed his call for a Truth and Reconciliation Commission to address AJK\u2019s recent unrest, and urged the federal government to restore internet services immediately.
\nAddressing a public rally in Kotli ahead of the July 27 elections in the region, Bilawal said the PPP would seek observer representation for AJK in Pakistan\u2019s key constitutional institutions, including the Council of Common Interests (CCI), the National Finance Commission (NFC), and the National Assembly.
\nPresenting the PPP\u2019s election agenda, Bilawal said his party stood for the \u201cright to rule, right to ownership and right to employment,\u201d adding that AJK\u2019s natural resources belonged to its people.
\nHe said the proposal envisaged protesters suspending demonstrations while the state halted action until an independent inquiry completed its findings.
\nUrging dialogue, Bilawal said neither the protesters nor the government\u2019s representatives had responded to the proposal and called on the federal government to restore internet services, saying ordinary AJK people should not suffer because of the dispute.
\nThe PPP chairman also accused political rivals of victimising his party workers through police cases and expressed confidence that PPP candidates would secure victories across Kotli district.
\nHe urged voters to give his party a stronger mandate in the upcoming elections, saying the political circumstances were more favourable for the PPP than they had been during the last polls.
\nBilawal said the party had received a large number of applications from aspiring candidates, making the ticket distribution process challenging. However, he said he had instructed the party leadership to award tickets only to loyal party workers.
\nReferring to the previous AJK elections, he said the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) was in power in the region while the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) headed the federal government. Despite those circumstances, he claimed, the PPP had secured substantial public support and, in his view, had effectively won the election.
\n He said the situation had since changed, noting that the PPP had been in power in AJK for the past six months, while the federal government was led by \u201cour friend Shehbaz Sharif\u201d.
\nHe said the PPP would not face the same challenges it had encountered in the previous election and appealed to voters to support the party in greater numbers than they had in the last polls.
\nThe July 27 AJK elections, he said, would determine whether the people endorsed the PPP\u2019s vision for greater political rights and economic opportunities in the region.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
PPP chairman outlines AJK agenda, renews Truth Commission demand and urges dialogue on unrest Kotli Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari on Sunday promised greater constitutional rights for Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK), renewed his call for a Truth and Reconciliation Commission to address AJK\u2019s recent unrest, and urged the federal government to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":557155,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-557145","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-top-news"],"yoast_head":"\n