ISLAMABAD: Special Assistant to the PM Syed Asif Kirmani said that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif will himself monitor the development activities in Azad Jammu Kashmir (AJK) after the new government is in place.
“We owe a huge responsibility to the people of AJK and the prime minister has directed me that he will himself monitor the development activities to ensure transparency and alleviate the masses’ sufferings,” he said talking to PTV.
He said that the federal government had provided Rs 300 billion to the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) led AJK government during the last three years but the valley complained of corruption. “Therefore, our party (PML-N) has decided that the corrupt will not be spared under an effective mechanism of accountability and good governance,” he said.
He said the prime minister has also directed that all deliberations about development in AJK must be held in the valley. “We held our parliamentary board’s meeting at Muzaffarabad and announced our manifesto in AJK on the day when the prime minister returned from England,” he said.
Kirmani said that the federal governments, previously, used to utilise state resources in AJK elections but the PML-N did away with this practice and refused the state resources and protocol.
“The people of AJK have rejected the PPP due to its corrupt government and Imran Khan lost ground for his rhetoric and negative politics. Kashmiri voters believe that none of these two parties could deliver as only the PML-N had the capacity to construct motorways and lay down railways track from Islamabad to Muzaffarabad,” Kirmani said.
Kirmani believed that the people of Kashmir voted to his party’s vision of development and the prime minister has already directed to start the implementation on the manifesto right after the government is formed in AJK. “The prime minister has directed to spend the resources allocated for AJK on the Kashmiri people,” he added.
Kirmani hinted at enacting effective laws to end corruption from AJK and judiciously spend the money allocated by the federal government on construction of roads, hospitals, schools and colleges and clean drinking water projects. Nawaz Sharif has already approved five air ambulances to air lift the seriously ill people to Islamabad hospitals, he said, “We (PML-N) shall be spending Rs 50 billion in AJK on special welfare oriented projects in five years, besides other routine projects.”
While answering a question, he said the opposition parties in Pakistan should sit with the government and introduce an effective mechanism of accountability instead of politicking by targeting a single person. “In case of Imran Khan, he wants to become the prime minister by hook or by crook. But, we (PML-N) hope from other political parties that they will come forward for an error free system of accountability,” he said.
