Coalition allies PML-N and PPP at each other’s throats over AJK election claims

Coalition partners in the federal government, the Pakistan Peoples Party and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, on Saturday continued their war of words, which began during the Azad Jammu and Kashmir election campaign, with leaders from both sides escalating their rhetoric by targeting each other’s leadership and past governments.

The two parties, allies in the federal coalition government, have been exchanging accusations since the PML-N emerged victorious in the elections in AJK’s Mirpur division. The PPP has alleged that the PML-N rigged the polls in Mirpur and has demanded fresh voting in the constituency.

With the second phase of the AJK elections set to be held on Sunday in nine constituencies of Muzaffarabad division, political temperatures rose further as senior PML-N leaders responded to the PPP’s allegations of electoral manipulation, rejecting claims of rigging not only in the AJK polls but also in the 2024 general elections. The latest exchanges marked a further deterioration in relations between the two coalition partners, with the campaign increasingly dominated by personal attacks and competing claims over their respective records in government rather than local electoral issues.

Read: Bilawal warns rigged polls will hasten PML-N downfall

Taking a swipe at PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari over his allegations regarding the 2024 general elections, PML-N leader Rana Sanaullah questioned the legitimacy of President Asif Ali Zardari’s election.

“If you describe the votes secured by the prime minister as ‘Form-47 votes’, then on what forms did the president receive his votes? You should answer that as well. If the president was elected through the same electoral process, then he is accepted as the president of Pakistan, but at the same time you say you do not recognise the prime minister,” Sanaullah said while addressing a gathering in Jhelum Valley alongside Kashmir Affairs Minister Amir Muqam.

He also criticised PPP leaders for targeting PML-N President Nawaz Sharif, saying that if they questioned Nawaz’s first election as prime minister, similar questions would arise about the election of former prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto.

“If you claim that Mian Nawaz Sharif became prime minister for the first time — or every time — through rigging, then you should also remember that people say someone once became prime minister after the country had already been split,” he said.

Sanaullah added that people also remembered that “someone first became a civilian chief martial law administrator before becoming prime minister”, adding that some people were now saying the political journey of 30 years should be compressed into just three and a half years.

He also took a jibe at Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi for criticising the current political system, questioning how he had risen to the office of interior minister in just three and a half years through the same system.

“One of Zardari’s sons said yesterday that the system had collapsed and was no longer capable of functioning. Yet, through the same system, he completed what would ordinarily have taken 30 years in just three and a half years. It is rather strange that, after enjoying the benefits of power, he has suddenly begun to see the system as flawed,” he said.

Sanaullah said Pakistan’s parliamentary democratic system had been envisioned by Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah and was the outcome of the political struggle of the country’s people.

“Everyone should know that the people of this country secured Pakistan through a political struggle. Under this very system, the country will not only move forward but will also attain the place in the world that our forefathers envisioned while struggling alongside Quaid-e-Azam,” he said.

Also Read: PPP alliance with PML-N in Centre not endangered by AJK polls criticism, Bilawal says

Responding to criticism from political opponents, Sanaullah said the PML-N should not be threatened by those he described as “cockroaches”.

“Do not threaten us by saying these cockroaches will gather together and cannot be managed with laptops or stipends. We have dealt with them before,” he said, adding that the PML-N had always served the country and that “cockroaches can never pose a threat to those serving Pakistan.”

Meanwhile, addressing an election rally in Lahore, Information Minister Attaullah Tarar criticised the PPP without naming it over its governance and development record.

He challenged rival parties campaigning for the elections in AJK to identify 10 or 12 major development projects they had completed either in Kashmir or in the areas they represented.

He said political parties had every right to present their manifestos before the public, but questioned whether any of them had a programme capable of matching the PML-N’s record of development.

“The answer is no. Politics is not about rhetoric or speeches alone. Parties have to demonstrate public service in practical terms, as Mian Nawaz Sharif did and as Mian Shehbaz Sharif is doing,” Tarar said.

The minister said the PML-N had consistently advocated the Kashmir cause. He added that when PM Shehbaz addressed the United Nations, he spoke about Burhan Wani and the people of Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir, who, he said, “even today wish to be buried wrapped in the Pakistani flag”.