ISLAMABAD: With less than a week to go in the Azad Jammu and Kashmir elections, the PML-N and the PPP have stepped up their election campaigns, with their top leadership taking charge of the election campaign to galvanise their support base.
PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari is already in AJK for canvassing — just like he did in Gilgit-Baltistan, where his party ended up forming the government.
Hoping to prevent a repeat of the GB polls, PML-N President Nawaz Sharif, who has hitherto kept a low profile, has decided to step in and lead the election campaign in Kashmir. He is expected to address multiple rallies in Azad Kashmir.
Observers see this election as ‘Nawaz vs Bilawal’ — with some claiming that the election campaign will be trickier for the PML-N because of widespread resentment against the political party over its purported role in the crackdown on protests led by the banned Joint Awami Action Committee (JAAC).
They believe that the PML-N is utilising all efforts to win the Kashmir polls because it does not want to cede space to the PPP as it did in Gilgit-Baltistan, where Bhutto-Zardari ran a vigorous campaign to lead his party to victory.
