MUZAFFARABAD(National Times)- The ruling PPP and the opposition PML-N in Azad Jammu and Kashmir will jointly host a multiparty conference (MPC) in Muzaffarabad on Wednesday to seek the views of political and other stakeholders on a contentious demand by a rights movement for the abolition of 12 Legislative Assembly seats reserved for Pakistan-based refugees from Indian-occupied territory of the erstwhile princely state.
The decision was taken at a high-level meeting chaired by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif in Islamabad on Monday.
The meeting was attended by Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar, Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Tariq Fazal Chaudhry, PM’s Adviser on Political Affairs Rana Sanaullah, ex-PM Raja Pervaiz Ashraf and former federal minister Qamar Zaman Kaira. AJK Prime Minister Faisal Mumtaz Rathore, Leader of the Opposition and PML-N AJK President Shah Ghulam Qadir, and the party’s secretary general Chaudhry Tariq Farooq represented the Kashmiri leadership.
According to sources, the participants agreed that all political and religio-political parties and organisations with a stake in the issue would be invited to attend the conference.
Forum aims to gather views on demand to abolish 12 refugee seats
The sources said the Jammu Kashmir Joint Awami Action Committee (JAAC) would also be invited to present its viewpoint before representatives of the broader political spectrum.
The meeting resolved that there would be “no compromise on the government of Pakistan’s principled position on the issue of Kashmir”, the sources said, declining to divulge further details.
The proposal to convene an MPC was first floated during marathon but ultimately unsuccessful negotiations between a federal government team and the JAAC in Muzaffarabad on Saturday.
According to reliable sources, the federal team, with the support of local PPP and PML-N leaders, had presented four options to the committee’s core members. These included convening an MPC on the issue, holding a referendum to ascertain public opinion, filing a reference before the AJK Supreme Court, or contesting the forthcoming elections on the issue and seeking a mandate from the electorate to abolish the refugee seats.
The JAAC leadership rejected all four proposals.
In response, the committee reiterated its demand for the abolition of the refugee seats. It also called for the election schedule to be withheld until fresh population-based delimitation was carried out and electoral reforms were introduced.
The proposal to hold an MPC was announced by Mr Sanaullah shortly after the talks ended in a deadlock.
