Altaf Hamid Rao.
MIRPUR (AJK], (Parliament Times) : Several of Azad Jammu Kashmir Ministers have accused the opposition benches of the lack of exercise of legislation business during Friday’ scheduled session of Azad Jammu Kashmir Legislative Assembly that ultimately compelled to adjourn the house sine die.
Talking to journalists in the State metropolis late Friday the ministers including Planning and Development minister, Chaudhry Muhammad Rashid, Education Minister for Schools Dewan Ali Khan Chughtai, Minister for Public Works Azhar Sadiq and Parliamentary Secretary Prof Taqdis Gilani said that since the opposition had submitted requisition for convening session of the of Azad Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly, it was the responsibility of the opposition to ensure maintenance of the quorum – but the opposition deliberately lacked to do so.
Speaker Azad Jammu Kashmir Legislative Assembly Chaudhry Anwar ul Haq had Friday adjourned the session of the Legislature, sine die, because of the lack of quorum – without exercising any business according to the agenda.
Treasury benches accused opposition members of the legislature of the cause of the lack of quorum that led to the adjournment of the session held in the State metropolis with Speaker Ch. Anwar ul Haq in the chair.
The ministers underlined that the popularly-elected PTI-led AJK government had already decided to convene the AJK assembly session on the 7th of December, but the opposition acted hastily and later started wailing that the government was skipping off convening the assembly session.
The AJK ministers continued that Prime Minister of Azad Jammu Kashmir Sardar Qayyum Niazi, Ministers and all members of the government were present in the assembly till the last moment but the opposition could not meet the quorum due to which the session had to be adjourned.
The government, they said has decided to convene the session of the assembly on the 10th of December in which the business of the opposition will also be made a part of the agenda.
They said our government has so far approved projects worth 6 billion rupees by the Cabinet Development Committee and 08 billion rupees by the Development Working Party which are now being processed by the departments for implementation.
The Ministers said that the agenda of the opposition for today’s meeting was insignificant in nature which did not include any special public issues. They said that the government has made a comprehensive plan for the development of Azad Kashmir and legislation in the interest of the state. The assembly session on 10th of December will include the business of the government as well as the opposition in the agenda. They said that the government will welcome the positive suggestions and will take the opposition on board for the betterment of the state and the people.
The Ministers said that the government has so far approved Rs. 12 billion projects for the wellbeing of the people and will also complete the plans of the previous government for the welfare of the people. Responding to a question, the Ministers said that the previous government had formed a sub-committee for ad hoc employees, whose recommendations were bulldozed and they passed the act. In response to another question, the Ministers said that the liberation of occupied Kashmir was always the top priority of the PTI-led government.
They said on the directions of the Prime Minister of Pakistan Imran Khan AJK President staged a strong protest on the arrival of the Indian Prime Minister in UN General Assembly session and also highlighted the Kashmir issue in the United States and Europe and apprised the world of the ongoing human rights violations in Occupied Kashmir.
In response to another question, the Ministers said that they were reviewing the plans of the previous government and would expose their corruption and added that Rs. 500 billion of the federal government funds will be spent on the construction and development of the state and from this fund mega development projects will be started in Azad Jammu Kashmir to bring about a socio economic development of the people of the state and to raise the living standards of the people.