AJK parties to hold multiparty conference on refugee seats issue

MUZAFFARABAD: The ruling Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and the opposition Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) will jointly organise a multiparty conference in Muzaffarabad on Wednesday to seek input from political and other stakeholders on the demand to scrap 12 Legislative Assembly seats reserved for Pakistan-based refugees from Indian-occupied territory of the former princely state.

The decision was taken at a high-level meeting chaired by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif in Islamabad on Monday. Those who attended included Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar, Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Tariq Fazal Chaudhry, the prime minister’s adviser on political affairs Rana Sanaullah, former prime minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf and former federal minister Qamar Zaman Kaira.

Representing the Kashmiri leadership at the meeting were 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.

Stakeholders to be invited

Participants agreed that all political and religio-political parties and organisations with a stake in the matter would be invited to the conference. The sources said the Jammu Kashmir Joint Awami Action Committee (JAAC) would also be asked to present its position before representatives from the broader political spectrum.

The meeting also resolved that there would be "no compromise on the government of Pakistan’s principled position on the issue of Kashmir" sources said, while not disclosing additional details.

Issue emerged in talks with JAAC

The idea of convening a multiparty conference had first been proposed during lengthy but unsuccessful negotiations between a federal government delegation and the JAAC in Muzaffarabad on Saturday.

According to reliable sources, the federal team, backed by local PPP and PML-N leaders, had placed four options before the committee’s core members. These were the holding of a multiparty conference on the issue, a referendum to determine public opinion, a reference to the AJK Supreme Court, or contesting the upcoming elections on the issue and seeking an electoral mandate for abolishing the refugee seats.

The JAAC leadership rejected all four proposals. In response, the committee repeated its demand that the refugee seats be abolished. It also called for the election schedule to be withheld until fresh delimitation based on population was carried out and electoral reforms were introduced.

The proposal for a multiparty conference was announced by Rana Sanaullah shortly after the talks ended without an agreement.