- Finance, food, and sports ministers tender resignations amid rift over JAAC accord
- Two ministers publicly demand PM’s resignation, term deal ‘unconstitutional’ and arguing refugee seats reflect historic sacrifices since 1947
- Wave of cabinet resignations deepens AJK political turmoil after violent protests, JAAC accord slammed as ‘morally indefensible and reached under pressure’
MUZAFFARABAD/ISLAMABAD: Political turmoil deepened in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) on Friday as three more ministers resigned from the cabinet, with two of them demanding that Prime Minister Chaudhry Anwarul Haq step down for his “failure to safeguard the constitutional rights of Kashmiri refugees.”
The latest resignations came from AJK Finance Minister Abdul Majid Khan, Food Minister Chaudhry Akbar Ibrahim, and Sports, Youth and Culture Minister Asim Sharif Butt. The first two announced their decision at a joint press conference at the Muzaffarabad Press Club, while Butt sent his resignation directly to the prime minister.
Earlier this week, Information Minister Pir Mazhar Saeed had also stepped down, citing “unavoidable reasons.” Officials at the AJK PM’s Office confirmed his resignation had been received but not yet accepted.
All three newly resigned ministers were elected on PTI tickets in the 2021 general elections from LA-45 (Valley-VI), LA-38 (Jammu-V) and LA-42 (Valley-III)—seats reserved for Kashmiri refugees who migrated to Pakistan after 1947—and later joined PM Haq’s faction of PTI defectors in 2023.
Their resignations came in protest against the recent agreement between a seven-member federal committee and the Joint Awami Action Committee (JAAC), which, among other matters, addressed the contentious issue of the 12 legislative assembly seats reserved for refugees.
Calling the JAAC an “unelected, baton-wielding group,” Khan and Ibrahim said the accord had legitimised an “unconstitutional and morally indefensible demand reached under pressure and without wider consultation.” They accused the AJK government of compromising the political representation of Pakistan-based Kashmiri refugees, describing the move as “a betrayal of history and sacrifice.”
The ministers argued that the refugee seats were a “historic and conscious constitutional decision” dating back to 1947, symbolizing Pakistan’s recognition of the refugees’ role in the Kashmir struggle. Removing or altering them, they said, was tantamount to erasing their political identity.
Khan, in his two-page resignation letter, said it had become “utterly impossible to continue under a government that failed to defend refugees’ constitutional rights,” adding he would continue to fight for their representation “in AJK and Pakistan alike.” Ibrahim echoed the same stance, accusing PM Haq of “conspiring against refugee lawmakers.”
Their resignations come after weeks of unrest in AJK, where protests over the JAAC accord and elite privileges turned violent, leaving at least 10 people dead and dozens injured before a federal delegation’s intervention in Muzaffarabad earlier this month.
