Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan said on Wednesday that the PML-N chief Mian Nawaz Sharif had tried to create rifts among Kashmiris in the recent general elections. Resultantly, she said, the Kashmiris had disapproved his party through their votes.
“Forces busy in robbing the Kashmiri’s mandate in Punjab have also tried to politicise the Kashmir issue, but the AJK public had rejected them, as proved in the elections,” Firdous said while talking to journalists at Azmat-e-Rasool conference. The federal minister said Kashmir has its own election commission, which is working under the AJK prime minister and is in accordance with the laws and constitution of Kashmir. She informed that the election commission of Pakistan had supported the ECK on request of the AJK government, adding that the election commission is free and autonomous. She condemned deployment of Punjab police personnel and special branch officials on all poling stations of AJK and said that Nawaz must bring his brother before the law if he had any rigging complaints in the recent elections. She urged the PML-N chief to take notice of the Punjab police’s ferocity who had victimised the helpless teachers of Punjab during poling. She said “Patwaris” in Punjab had prepared votes of settlers and had ignored all non-settlers. Furthermore, she urged Nawaz Sharif to stop presenting a one-sided picture. Firdous said Kashmiris had given mandate to the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) as they wanted a stable government.
