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ISLAMABAD: As the PPP’s Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) chapter on Sunday urged the region’s election commission to withdraw the election schedule for 12 refugee seats in the Legislative Assembly, Information Minister Ataullah Tarar called for a resolution to differences through democratic and constitutional means.
Ahead of the July 27 elections in AJK, the Joint Awami Action Committee (JAAC) had called for widespread protests demanding the abolition of 12 seats in the region’s Legislative Assembly reserved for refugees from Indian-occupied Jammu and Kashmir who settled in mainland Pakistan after 1947.
Elections for these seats are held separately from the 33 general seats in AJK, with refugees registered in 12 constituencies across Pakistan voting for their representatives. The seats have long been politically sensitive due to disputes over voter lists, delimitation, and constitutional amendments.
Information Minister Tarar while addressing the media outside Parliament House stressed that elections are the best way to achieve the public mandate in a democracy.
