Says his party will make talks with the Joint Action Committee its first priority after forming the AJK government
PML-N senior leader and Prime Minister’s aide on political affairs Rana Sanaullah addresses a public meeting in Bagh on Saturday. SCREENGRAB
PML-N senior leader and Prime Minister’s aide on political affairs Rana Sanaullah on Saturday claimed that his party would form a government with a two-thirds majority in Azad Jammu and Kashmir, saying the elected government would hold talks with the Joint Awami Action Committee (JAAC) as its first priority and resolve the issues raised by it.
Addressing a public gathering in Bagh, Sanaullah said the Kashmir liberation movement was, for Pakistan, a movement for the completion of the country.
“Pakistan is incomplete without Kashmir. Kashmir is Pakistan and Pakistan is Kashmir. Kashmir is Pakistan’s jugular vein, and no power in the world can weaken this bond between Pakistan and Kashmir,” he said.
Read More: PML-N eyes 2/3rd AJK assembly majority
Sanaullah claimed that four more PML-N candidates would win the final phase of the AJK elections from Poonch Division and Bagh district, saying they would join the assembly after two days.
He urged voters to support the PML-N so that it could secure a two-thirds majority in the assembly.
“The Pakistan Muslim League-N has the strength of 30 members — 24 elected members and six on reserved seats. Only six more votes are required for a two-thirds majority. You have to add these four [seats] on the 10th,” he said.
Referring to the constituencies where re-elections would be held, Sanaullah expressed confidence that the PML-N would win five of the seven seats in Poonch Division. He reiterated that his party would form a government in AJK with a two-thirds majority.
“This is the trust that the people of Kashmir have placed in the Pakistan Muslim League-N. The people of Kashmir have expressed their confidence in Mian Nawaz Sharif and in the development achieved in Punjab,” he said.
Sanaullah said that once the PML-N formed a two-thirds majority government in the next two to three weeks, it would also hold negotiations with the Joint Action Committee.
Read More: PML-N intensifies AJK election campaign in crucial third phase
“The government’s first task will be to resolve this issue. Ninety-nine per cent of the people in the Action Committee are your brothers and our brothers,” he said, describing the committee members as patriotic Kashmiris and Pakistanis.
He said that if one or two per cent of the people had a different agenda and wanted to create divisions among the people of Kashmir, “can we not all join hands to expose and defeat them?”
“We will defeat them and make Kashmir successful; we will make the people of Kashmir successful,” he added.
Sanaullah also criticised PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari over his remarks about starting a countdown for the government.
“Those who want to start the countdown will themselves straighten out, and their countdown will also be set right,” he said.
He said the PML-N was currently in government in Bagh and vowed that the party would fulfil the promises made by its leader Nawaz Sharif.
The third phase of polling is expected to be closely watched as political parties make their final push to consolidate support before the completion of the third phase of the electoral process and the formation of the next government in AJK.
The final phase will cover constituencies across the districts of Bagh, Haveli, Poonch (Rawalakot) and Sudhnoti.
Four constituencies – LA-14 Bagh-I, LA-15 Bagh-II, LA-16 Bagh-III and LA-17 Bagh/Haveli Kahuta – comprise the Bagh and Haveli region, while the remaining seven constituencies, LA-18 to LA-24, cover Rawalakot, Poonch and Sudhnoti.
