MUZAFFARABAD: The Legislative Assembly Secretariat on Friday issued six separate notices to Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) Prime Minister Raja Farooq Haider asking him to appear before the speaker on August 28 to explain ‘anti-Pakistan’ comments he made on July 29, a day after former prime minister Nawaz Sharif was disqualified by the Supreme Court in Panama Papers case.
The notices were issued after opposition leaders filed references demanding Farooq’s resignation for saying that he will have to ‘reconsider’ if he wanted to ‘annex his fate with Pakistan’ following the ouster of PML-N leader Nawaz Sharif from the prime minister’s office.
“A reference has been submitted to the Legislative Assembly speaker by Chaudhry Yasin, leader of the opposition, under Section 25(2) of the AJK Interim Constitution Act, read with Section 5(2) of the AJK Legislative Assembly (Election) Ordinance 1970 […] You, Raja Muhammad Farooq Haider, Member Legislative Assembly (MLA) from LA-28, Muzaffarabad-V, are hereby informed to appear in person before the Speaker in his chamber at 1pm on Aug 28, 2017 to present clarifications on [your comments] along with documentary evidence,” reads one of the notices.
Apart from Yasin, Muslim Conference President and MLA Sardar Attique and his party members, Syed Ghulam Murtaza Ali Gillani, Deevan Chughtai, Saqib Majeed Raja and Mir Attiqur Rehman, also filed a separate reference each.
Prior to them, Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) lawmakers Abdul Majid Khan and Deevan Ghulam Mohiyuddin had filed a joint resolution on the same issue on August 4.
In their references and resolution, the opposition leaders took an almost identical stance that since the AJK prime minister has to swear allegiance to the ideology of (Kashmir’s) accession to Pakistan before entering office, “Haider has violated his oath both as an MLA and as prime minister after propagating against this ideology and impairing the cause of freedom-seeking Kashmiris.”
Haider landed himself in trouble when he addressed a joint presser with Gilgit-Baltistan Chief Minister Hafiz Hafeezur Rehman at Kashmir House, Islamabad, after former prime minister Nawaz Sharif was disqualified by the Supreme Court on July 28.
After turning his guns towards PTI chief Imran Khan, Haider had controversially speculated on the future of Kashmir and Pakistan. “Yesterday, he [Khan] said that I am going to build the Pakistan of the Quaid-e-Azam [Muhammad Ali Jinnah] and Allama Iqbal […] is this the Pakistan of Quaid-e-Azam and Allama Iqbal? If this is the Pakistan that Quaid-e-Azam and Allama Iqbal [dreamed of], I will have to re-think, as a Kashmiri, [if] I should annex my fate with [this country].”
Haider’s office issued a clarification later the same day the remarks surfaced, saying that an English and an Urdu newspaper had quoted him ‘out of the context’ and that he stood for the accession of the AJK state to Pakistan.
Published in Daily Times, August 19th 2017.
