Altaf Hamid Rao
Islamabad/MIRPUR ( AJK), (Parliament Times) : Prime Minister Azad Jammu and Kashmir Chaudhry Anwar Ul Haq , has said that he won’t hesitate to quit his job provided he fails to solve the inflated electricity bills and hydel-power generation related issues in Azad Kashmir.”I will not allow any kind of tax to be imposed on the people”, the PM said while speaking to a private news channel here on Thursday.
The PM expressed the hope that there would be a big breakthrough in coming months and these issues would be sorted out in the wider interests of the people of the region.
Brushing away the impression that Azad Kashmir was a burden on the federal government, the PM said that it needed to be realized that the AJK contributes significantly to Pakistan’s economy.
On power usage rights, he said, ” It happens to be the first right of those people in whose area electricity is generated”.The PM said that he was fighting the case of the people of Poonch, Muzaffarabad and Mangla Dam affectees.Regarding the increase in electricity prices, he said that the increase in the electricity charges took place in accordance with the Mangla Dam Agreement of 1967.The AJK government, he said, has no role in it. “When there is a surge in electricity charges in Pakistan, it is also applied in Azad Kashmir in the same proportion”, he said.He said that it was for the first time that we have suspended the additional taxes on electricity and are charging citizens the bill according to last year’s tariff regime.He said that the current administrative structure of Azad Kashmir was justifiable only with reference to the Kashmir freedom movement. Replying to a question, he said that the meeting with the caretaker foreign minister was no less than a breath of fresh air.Appreciating the chief of army staff, Gen. Asim Munir’s statement, the AJK premier, said that the Army Chief’s statement on Kashmir boosted the morale of Kashmiris on both sides of the LoC.Pakistan, he said, was currently suffering from financial difficulties. “However, we were trying to convince the Federal Ministry of Finance that Azad Kashmir is not a burden on the federal government”, he said.He said that the AJK, despite contributing to the county’s economy immensely, was not getting enough funds or its due share.He said that the government of Azad Kashmir was giving a subsidy of 3000 rupees per 40kg of flour.On a question, the Prime Minister said that the Ministry of Finance asked us not to increase the salaries of employees, but we increased the salaries by compromising on the development funds.The PM said that he would continue to raise the legitimate rights of his people.While terming the right to protest and peaceful assembly as the essence of a democratic society, he said that people have every right to raise their legitimate demands.