The lobbying for the position of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) prime minister has reached its peak as the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP)’s two main contenders Chaudhry Abdul Majeed and Sultan Mehmood Chaudhry are sparing no efforts to secure the top job and try to get their favourites nominated for reserved seats for the Legislative Assembly.
The PPP had emerged as the largest party in the AJK elections held on June 26. “The two candidates for the slot of prime minister are lobbying hard, even prior to finalising names for the reserved seats for women, technocrats and clerics for the Legislative Assembly. The nominations for reserved seats have been overshadowed by the campaigns of the two contenders,” Mian Abdul Waheed, a newly-elected PPP MLA told Pakistan Today on Sunday.
He said both PPP leaders were actively lobbying to bring their favourites to the Legislative Assembly on the reserved seats, as it would help them strengthen their position in the election for the premiership. “The selection of candidates for reserved seats would make it clear which of the two candidates is stronger,” Waheed said.
However, a source in the AJK People’s Party told Pakistan Today that Majeed had the largest support base in the party, but a number of prominent PPP leaders in Islamabad, including Mian Manzoor Wattoo, were supporting Sultan. He also said that Jahangir Badr was supporting Majeed as well, but the final decision in this regard would be taken upon President Asif Ali Zardari’s return from abroad.
He also said Sultan’s position in the party had weakened as most of the candidates of his group such as Khawaja Farooq, Bashir Pehalwan and Malik Saleem lost the elections in their constituencies. He said further that both sides were lobbying feverishly but the verdict of the central leadership of the party would be decisive. Another source in the PPP’s AJK Parliamentary Board told Pakistan Today that Begum Shamshad Aziz, Shahina Dar, Gulzar Fatima, Shazia Akbar, Pir Ali Raza Bukhari and Pir Attiqur Rehman Faizpuri were the strongest candidates for the reserved seats for women and clerics.
The Parliamentary Board held interviews for the reserved seats of women and clerics on Sunday at Zardari House.
According to the source, around 100 candidates were interviewed. One such candidate is Begum Shamshad Aziz, wife of Lt General (r) Muhammad Aziz Khan, was the Chief of General Staff when General (r) Pervez Musharraf ousted the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz government in 1999.
Gulzar Fatima had been elected MLA twice and Shazia Akbar was the adviser to the former AJK prime minister. The source said that Sultan would emerge as the strongest candidate for the premiership if Begum Shamshad, Shahina Dar and Pir Ali Raza Bukhari were chosen as MLAs for reserved seats.
The interviews for overseas Kashmiris and technocrats were postponed and will now be held on Monday (today).
