Calls to scrap 12 Kashmir Assembly seats aim to undermine electoral process: Khawaja Asif

ISLAMABAD: Minister for Defence Khawaja Muhammad Asif has said that demands to abolish the 12 seats in the Kashmir Assembly reserved for Kashmiri voters residing in Pakistan are tantamount to an attempt to undermine and disrupt the electoral process.

This demand, made ahead of the upcoming elections, is tantamount to sabotaging the electoral process, the defence minister wrote on his social media platform X.

Democratic principles require that those making this demand present it to the public on July 27 and allow the people to decide and shape their own representation. Only then can it be considered democratic; otherwise, it will be seen as blackmail.

He said in Sialkot city and tehsil, there is one seat in the Azad Kashmir Assembly and two seats in the Pakistan National Assembly. The remaining Kashmir Assembly constituencies are spread across Pakistan.

In Sialkot the majority of Kashmiri migrants are from Jammu, he said. He said in October 1947, these migrants settled in Sialkot city and tehsil after sacrificing over 200,000 lives. Modesty of hundreds of thousands of women was outraged and thousands of daughters were abducted. How can these migrants be deprived of their rightful representation, he questioned.

For decades, these migrants have lived in extreme poverty, deprived of basic necessities of life. They have paid a very high price for freedom. Those seeking to have their opinions recognized should follow democratic means.