Altaf Hamid Rao,
MIRPUR (AJK): AJK President Sardar Masood Khanhas said that the recently
arrived 13th Amendment to the AJK’s Interim Constitution Act, 1974, reflects a popular demand and aspirations of the people of Azad Jammu and Kashmir.
AJK President Masood Khan, who is also Chancellor of the
AJK-based state-run AJK Universities, expressed these views while addressing the inaugural session of the seminar on “Constitutional Reforms 2018”, organized by the state-run Mirpur University of Science and Technology (MUST) at its main campus here on Monday.
Vice Chancellor of the MUST Prof. Dr. Habib ur Rehman (SI), in his address of welcome highlighted the significance of hosting of the seminar titled Constitutional Reforms-2018 organized by law department of the university.
Besides the VC MUST Prof. Dr. Habib ur Rehman, both sessions of the seminar were addressed among others by AJK minister for sports youth and Culture Ch. Muhammad Saeed, Additional Chief Secretary (General) and focal person of AJK government for constitutional reforms Farhat Ali Mir, Prof. Dr. Mukhtar Ahmad, former Chairman Higher Education Commission, ex Chief Justice of AJK High Court Justice (Retd) Abdul Majeed Mallick, Head of Political Science and International Relations International Islamic University Islamabad Brig. (Retd) Prof. Dr. Muhammad Khan, senior lawyer of AJK Supreme Court Raja Muhammad Hanif Advocate, Ambassador Arif Kamal; Prof. Dr. Maqsood Ahmed, Dean Faculty of Arts, Dr. Yaseen Khan, Chairman Department of Law; Ershad Mahmood, senior Journalist and Executive Director Centre for Peace, Development and Reforms; Station Director Azad Kashmir Radio Mirpur Muhammad Shakeel, Muhammad Yasin Khan Coordinator Department of Law, legal experts, academicians, scholars, faculty members and a large number of students.
The AJK President highly applauded the role of Prof. Dr. Habib-ur-Rahman, Vice Chancellor MUST for taking this timely initiative to host a full-day seminar on Constitutional Reforms 2018 and inviting some of the best minds and experts on the subject to analyze the constitutional reforms.
President Masood Khan said that the 13th Amendment is a meaningful step towards empowering the State of Azad Jammu and Kashmir, especially the Legislative Assembly and the executive headed by the Prime Minister. He added that the crux of the 13th Amendment is that it has rectified existence of two parallel administrative and financial authorities – the AJK Government and the Azad Jammu and Kashmir Council. This Amendment is an evolutionary process in constitutional reforms
and does not compromise the strong bond between Pakistan and Kashmir.
President AJK said that Azad Kashmir’s political parties,
encompassing the entire spectrum, have been campaigning for and working on AJK Council’s constitutional reform and, at many points, had agreed on a median of the content of these reforms. The President said that despite the Amendment’s passage being widely applauded in Azad Kashmir, some critics, including legists and opposition parties, have raised questions and made suggestions for improvement. “Dissent is good in democracies and should be welcomed”, he said.
President Masood Khan said that this amendment has been
crafted in a manner by which the basic spirit of the constitution has not been tinkered with. Unlike the Indian Constitution – which has massively encroached on the rights of the people of Jammu and Kashmir – this Amendment, does not in any way, affect Pakistan’s stance or that of the people of Jammu and Kashmir on the Kashmir dispute. He denounced the recent attempts of the Indian government for revoking Article 35-A of the Indian Constitution in order to pave the way for changing the demography of the IOK, a move against which is against the basic rights of the people living in an occupied territory.
President Azad Kashmir said that this landmark Amendment has
also inserted in the Preamble of the AJK Constitution necessary language that empowers the people of Azad Kashmir to pursue and foster the cause of
self-determination under the resolutions passed by the United Nation Commission for India and Pakistan. This, he said, helps, gives us new opportunities and avenues to project the cause of Kashmir in the international community.
While pointing to the complexities of such amendments, the
President said that the issue of the taxes, including the so-called taxes on corporations, should be on its way to resolution as our Constitution clearly states that all taxes in AJK, including income tax shall be levied by or under the authority of an Act of the AJK Assembly. Similarly, the issues in regard to distribution of assets under the control of the Council, completion of the ongoing development programmes and absorption and integration of the Council employees in the AJK civil service structure will be addressed amicably through consultations, he said.
Stressing the need for building political consensus, he said
that it is imperative that we set up a follow up and implementation mechanism for the 13th Amendment, which is inclusive and fully representative. All stakeholders from Azad Kashmir
and Pakistan should be on board and should be thoroughly consulted and it would be also prudent to have a dialogue of
the AJK’s ruling party with the opposition so as to take them into confidence about the implications of the constitutional reforms, informed the President.
President Masood Khan said that Azad Kashmir is being
enormously empowered by the 13th Amendment, which would generate new and
additional resources, the pace of development in Azad Kashmir should
accelerate. He said that this would translate into elimination of poverty,
creation of more jobs, better standards of living for the people, rapid
infrastructure development, well planned hydropower generation, better
education and health facilities, environment-friendly development of our
extractive industry, and a telecommunications revolution. These achievements also demand that we inject greater transparency and accountability in the process, he urged.
The President while addressing the audience urged highlighting the Kashmir issue internationally. He said we must never forget the sacrifices of our brothers and sisters who have been living under subjugation in the occupied territory. He added that we must unify our strengths and reach out to the world and expose the true face of India.
Prof. Dr. Mukhtar Ahmad, former Chairman Higher Education Commission while speaking on this occasion, commended the university’s initiative for organising a conference of this nature and stimulating academic debate on such pertinent issues. He encouraged furthering collaborations between state and academic institutions towards scholarly research on constitutional matters.
The seminar carried different topics and themes including
Reform Process, urgent need of good governance and accountability; Empowerment or integration; A constructive debate; Empowerment of the AJK and future direction of the freedom struggle against Indian occupation; Reform process and need for indigenous capacity building; Democratic progression and its vital linkage with the Development of Print and Electronic Media in the AJK; Reform as a Continuing Process; What is in Store for Tomorrow.
Elaborating the objectives of holding of the seminar, the Vice Chancellor Dr. Habib ur Rehman said that need of the seminar on the subject was felt by the University. Important themes were formed for deliberation in the seminar.
He underlined that the MUST is known for organizing conferences and seminars on national issues including Kashmir. The university will continue playing its role and fulfills its mission and purpose; serving the society is our hallmark, he asserted
Dr Habib ur Rehman thanked the AJK President Sardar Masood Khan and other renowned experts in the related field for gracing the occasion through expressing their valuable views and thoughts on various related subjects, he added. He said that the seminar proved beneficial for the institutions besides the peoples of the AJK – since hosting of the seminar is the unique honour for the University.
Speakers expressed the hope that the constitutional reforms will bring about socio economic uplift and speedy progress in all spheres of life through the more due and much-needed empowerment of AJK government for the over all population of AJK as they will be more strengthened than the pre reforms period.