MUZAFFARABAD: The Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) Legislative Assembly on Tuesday approved two laws aimed at regularising the services of hundreds of ad hoc, temporary and contractual employees, amid a walkout by opposition lawmakers.

The opposition staged the walkout after a heated exchange during a discussion on an alleged detention incident raised by a PTI lawmaker from Muzaffarabad on a point of order. He claimed that two women from his constituency had been held in illegal custody by police at their 15-Centre and that their husbands were also detained when they sought information at a police station.

Law Minister Mian Abdul Waheed assured the house that he would personally look into the matter and report back. However, an exchange of taunts between treasury and opposition members followed, prompting former prime minister and PTI president Abdul Qayyum Niazi to announce a boycott of the proceedings.

As he left the chamber, Mr Niazi made remarks about the assembly that drew a strong reaction from Forests Minister Sardar Javed Ayoub, who called for action against any member disrespecting the house. PTI members were joined in the walkout by legislators of the PML-N.

With the opposition absent, Speaker Chaudhry Latif Akbar deferred the question hour and took up legislative business.

The law minister tabled the AJK Regularisation of Services of Ad hoc or Temporary Employees (Basic Pay Scale-1) Ordinance, 2026, and the AJK Regularisation of Services of Ad hoc and Contract Employees Act, 2026. After suspending the relevant procedural rules, the house passed both measures without debate. Government members said the legislation would benefit around 5,000 employees, most of them non-gazetted staff.

Speaking after the passage of the laws, Mr Waheed said the issue had remained unresolved for years despite many employees having served for more than a decade under repeated extensions of their appointments. Prime Minister Faisal Rathore said the beneficiaries had not been appointed by his government but that protecting their livelihoods was a matter of conscience. He added that he would have been happier had the opposition remained in the house during the passage of the legislation.

At the prime minister’s request, some cabinet members later persuaded opposition lawmakers to return to the chamber. The assembly subsequently debated six resolutions moved separately by PML-N president Shah Ghulam Qadir, PML-N lawmakers Raja Farooq Haider, Sardar Amir Altaf and Nisara Abbasi, PPP president Chaudhry Mohammad Yasin, and jointly by six cabinet members.

The resolutions welcomed the recent US-Iran peace accord and congratulated Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, members of his cabinet and Chief of Army Staff Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir for their role in enhancing Pakistan’s standing internationally.

PPP lawmakers additionally paid tribute to President Asif Ali Zardari and PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari. The house also paid tribute to the victims of a helicopter crash in Muzaffarabad and to law enforcement personnel who lost their lives in clashes with a proscribed outfit. The assembly will meet again on Wednesday.

Published in Dawn, June 17th, 2026