Team News Riveting
Amidst a high voltage election campaign that concentrated around Kashmir and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, people did not show much enthusiasm in the elections held on Sunday for what Pakistan calls Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) Legislative Assembly.
The AJK is actually the Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir (PoK) and a disputed territory. The differences of approach between India and Pakistan in relation to the areas of Kashmir under its control are too conspicuous to be missed.
Azad Kashmir has not been given a provincial status in Pakistan. Therefore, it is important to ask whether Pakistani political parties should be given a free rein in Azad Kashmir? Since, Pakistan spares no effort to run down Indian governance in Jammu and Kashmir and sheds crocodile tears over the treatment meted out by India to the Kashmiri people, Pakistan’s dubious role in PoK politics needs to be exposed.
The polls held to elect a new government in PoK earlier have raised questions about how both the civilian government and the army of Pakistan treat the people of PoK without any concern for the basic (human) rights of the population. Local accusations of the heavy military presence and use of strong arm tactics to ensure predetermined results indicate popular disillusionment with the way in which Pakistan has been dealing with local political processes.
And it could be seen in the polling process. Despite all tactics and manipulations, people in PoK did not turn up to cast their votes in the elections today for the 45 seats. Of it, 33 electoral constituencies are in the 10 districts of PoK while 12 constituencies are reserved for Pakistan-based Jammu and Kashmir refugees. It has a total of 3.2 million voters, out of which 1.75 million are male and 1.46 million are female.
The polling started at 8am and continued until 5pm without any break. The local media reported that the polling ended for the 45 seats of the AJK Legislative Assembly and was marred by violence and clashes in some areas. Two activists of Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) were shot dead by unidentified persons at a polling station in the jurisdiction of Naarr police station in Charhoi, Kotli.
The election officials said that the polling was low since beginning and was likely to end up below 60 per cent. Another official said the polling per cent in today’s election was 55 per cent that endorse PoK people are against the policies of Pakistan. The elections witnessed a highly charged and divisive campaign that saw politicians from the three mainstream parties — the PTI, PPP and PML-N hurl allegations at each other.
Interestingly, all three mainstream political parties, the PTI, PML-N and PPP, have accused each other of selling out Kashmir, of being friends with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, of compromising on vital national interests.
