MUZAFFARABAD: Adviser to the Prime Minister on Political Affairs Rana Sanaullah said on Monday the PML-N would form the government in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) with a majority after the party secured 25 seats in the recent elections.
Addressing a press conference at Kashmir House in the federal capital, he claimed that the PML-N’s tally would rise to around 33 after elections to the reserved seats, enabling it to secure a two-thirds majority in the 53-member assembly.
Accompanied by Federal Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Tariq Fazal Chaudhry, PML-N AJK President Shah Ghulam Qadir, Secretary General Chaudhry Tariq Farooq and other leaders, Mr Sanaullah said the party would fulfil its election promises and ensure that the AJK Assembly exercised its full powers.
He said maintaining law and order would be the government’s foremost priority, adding that development work would be undertaken in AJK on the pattern of Punjab.
Mr Sanaullah also welcomed the decision of Sajid Iqbal Abbasi, who defeated Muslim Conference president and former prime minister Sardar Attique Ahmed Khan in LA-14 (Bagh West), to join hands with the PML-N.
He said Mr Abbasi had been elected with a strong mandate and that he had personally requested his support for the PML-N’s efforts to develop AJK.
“Sajid Iqbal Abbasi has become part of the PML-N team for the development and progress of AJK,” he said, adding that the party was grateful to him for his decision.
The premier’s aide said the PML-N had accepted the people’s verdict in LA-14 and secured a clear lead across AJK. He attributed the postponement of elections in seven constituencies to law-and-order concerns.
Turning to the ongoing sit-ins in AJK, he said the participants were “our brothers” and had the right to stage peaceful protests. He said the government would take steps to address the region’s underdevelopment. “Peaceful protest is everyone’s right,” he said.
Mr Sanaullah claimed that 99 per cent of those participating in the sit-ins were patriotic, while one to 1.5pc might be associated with “provocative elements”.
He alleged that the proscribed Action Committee had wanted the elections to be prevented, adding that the government had wanted all stakeholders to “walk shoulder to shoulder” with it.
“Kashmiris are as much owners of Pakistan as Pakistanis,” he said.
Speaking on the occasion, Mr Abbasi thanked the PML-N leadership for reposing confidence in him and the people of his constituency for giving him what he described as the biggest mandate in AJK’s history. He formally announced an alliance between his party and the PML-N in AJK.
‘Post-election unity’
In a statement, PML-N regional general secretary and MLA-elect Chaudhry Tariq Farooq called for an end to post-election bitterness in AJK, while outlining what appeared to be a roadmap for the incoming PML-N government, with a focus on governance, institutional reforms, youth employment and public welfare.
Mr Farooq called upon political parties, leaders, workers and voters to put aside their differences and work together now that the electoral process in AJK had largely been completed.
His call also appeared to be aimed at those continuing to dispute the election results, as he urged political stakeholders to use constitutional and legal forums rather than allow electoral differences to turn into prolonged political confrontation.
“Elections are an essential part of democracy; differences of opinion and competition are natural, but after the elections, we have to move forward together,” he said.
Mr Farooq said polling was yet to be held in seven constituencies of Poonch Division because of the law-and-order situation and other “unavoidable reasons”.
He said administrative divisions and districts should not become barriers between the people, stressing that the prosperity, peace, development and dignity of residents of Poonch, Muzaffarabad, Mirpur and other regions were interconnected.
“The time has come for us to move beyond politics, promote unity, improve governance, give hope to our youth and provide relief to the people,” he said.
Published in Dawn, August 18th, 2026
