The Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM), an 11-party coalition against the government, urged the people of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) to reject the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) in the upcoming AJK elections.
Addressing the public during the Muzaffarabad rally of the anti-government alliance on the occasion of Kashmir Solidarity Day, PDM President and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman once again raised claims of election rigging.
“Today, I want to say something to you. Listen to it intently. We rejected the 2018 elections. This is a rigged government. We will not accept the rigging in the Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) elections… and now they [this government] are preparing to rig the upcoming AJK elections,” he said.
The JUI-F chief also warned the public to be vary of those that switch alliances to the PTI just before the elections, and declared such people to be “traitors” to the cause of Kashmir and unworthy of votes.
“What has this government given to Pakistan that it will give to Kashmir?” Fazl asked, warning the rally’s participants of election the PTI government in the upcoming elections.
“This government will ruin Kashmir,” he added.
He paid tribute to the Kashmiri people whose “elders decided to be loyal towards Pakistan and you are steadfast on it today”. He wrapped by his speech by saying he hopes the people of the region win their freedom and decide to join Pakistan.
“This kind of incompetent prime minister not only threatens the freedom of every Pakistani but also that of every Kashmiri,” said Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari during his address.
He continued: “The Imran Khan who calls Modi a fascist today […] is the same Imran Khan who prayed for Modi’s victory in elections.”
“Speaking on the floor of the National Assembly following the annexation, all this prime minister had to say was ‘What can I do?’” Bilawal said, accusing the premier of having been helpless after the annexation of Kashmir.
Taking the podium after the JUI-F chief, Bilawal said: “We will fight a 1,000 years for the freedom of Kashmir.”
“It is unfortunate that a country that saw a prime minister like Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and the first woman prime minister of the Muslim world, Benazir Bhutto, is being run by a ‘puppet prime minister’,” the party chairman added.
He claimed that PM Imran will soon step down, adding that the “puppet government [will not be] allowed to trade away your rights or destroy the economy”.
“If we have to defeat Modi, we will need a democratic government, not a ‘selected’ government,” said the PPP chairman while lambasting the sitting government.
The former president’s son said that the prime minister who had promised to be Kashmir’s advocate is trying to become a lawyer for Indian spy Kulbhushan Jadhav. He also said that Prime Minster Imran Khan was “on the same page” as his Indian counterpart.
“This puppet government that keeps repeating the mantra of ‘same page’, is basically on the same page with Modi,” he said to a charged crowd. “We will never stoop as low as this government, who is doing exactly what Modi does to his opponents”.
Referring to the long march by the PDM that was announced a day before, Bilawal encouraged the people to join: “It has been decided in Islamabad that a long march will be held on March 26. And you will also reach Islamabad from Kashmir.”
“We also compete with each other as political parties in this country, but we also keep in mind the country’s cultural ethos,” he added while ridiculing the PTI for having arrested Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Vice President Maryam Nawaz and his aunt, Faryal Talpur in separate incidents.
Moreover, PML-N VP Maryam said that PM Imran would be considered a “criminal” in any conversation involving Kashmir’s plight as she accused him of “selling Kashmir”.
“The whole nation is one on the issue of Kashmir, I assure you every child of Pakistan is united [when it comes to] Kashmir,” the former premier’s daughter said. “There are political differences but when it comes to matters of national interest, whether it’s atomic programme or Kashmir, the people of Pakistan stand as one.”
“It is the responsibility of the incumbent government to safeguard national interests, even if that government has been selected and is a fraud,” the PML-N leader said.
She went on to pose questions towards the sitting prime minister: “What message do you bring for the people of Kashmir? Do you bring the message of handing over Kashmir to Modi, or, do you bring the message that you have lost the case of the Kashmiris?”
“Their foreign policy was two-minutes of silence after Modi took over Kashmir, that is what Imran did.”
She also lambasted PM Imran for being unable to get “one resolution passed”, adding that the foreign policy was such that India had become part of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC).
She alleged that while PM Imran was going to Kolti to address the people, there had been notices sent to the police to prevent any members of the opposition from attending the gathering “because the fake prime minister is afraid that people will hold him accountable.”
Referring to the upcoming Senate elections, Maryam alleged that ‘show of hands’ is being pushed by the prime minister as “he sees his members slipping away”.
She reiterated that it could only be through the leadership of her father and party supreme leader Nawaz Sharif that the issue of Kashmir could be solved. Maryam reminded the people that it was during Nawaz’s rule that former Indian premier Atal Bihari Vajpayi came to Lahore and “acknowledged that Kashmir is a dispute which needs to be solved”.
Referring to those that had lost their lives to Indian forces, she expressed her sympathies and said: “When you are hurt, our hearts are also wounded.”
Maryam also claimed that PML-N lawmakers were getting phone calls and being asked to support the ruling PTI on a bill to end secret balloting in Senate and went on to declare that her father and herself had clearly stated that their party will not work with the incumbent government, even if it loses seats in the parliament.
