Thursday, 28 March 2024, 05:03:07 pm

Analysts hope a new era of transparency and merit will emerge after election of AJK Legislative Assembly
July 24, 2021

Ali Amin Gandapur (Minister for Kashmir Affairs and Gilgit Baltistan): Prime Minister Imran Khan has been fighting the case of IIOJ&K as an ambassador of Kashmiris which is widely being hailed. PTI government has been focusing on the development of Azad Jammu and Kashmir on merit and transparency. Our government gave a six billion development package besides provision of health cards to all residents of Azad Jammu and Kashmir. Tomorrow, it will be the day of victory of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf. A new dawn will emerge in which there will be no corruption and everything will be transparent in AJK. The older leadership of AJK was not sincere to the Kashmir cause. We will remove the grievances of people of Kashmir.  

Altaf Hameed Rao (Kashmiri journalist): Azad Jammu and Kashmir Election Commission has finalized all arrangements to hold free, fair, and transparent elections for AJK Legislative Assembly tomorrow. Free, fair elections are part of democracy, where citizens are free to exercise their right to vote without any external influence. Kashmiris living in any city of Pakistan will exercise their right to vote to choose their candidates on 12 constituencies meant for Jammu and Kashmir refugees settled in Pakistan. Over 33,000 security persons, including Army personnel and FC, have been deployed to ensure peaceful polling.   

Naghmana Hashmi (Former Ambassador to China): The visit of Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi is part of regular exchange of high officials between Pakistan and China. They discuss a number of bilateral issues during the meetings, including the strategic dialogue. Some quarters are trying to portray that there has been a rift between Pakistan and China due to Dasu incident. But we must bear in mind that this is totally baseless perception. Both countries are friends to each other in thick and thin and have unanimity of views on various issues. In the context of shifting regional circumstances, the friendship between Pakistan and China has become more important to tackle the issues jointly.  

Masood Khalid (Former Ambassador to China): This year, we are celebrating 70th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Pakistan and China. The strategic cooperation between Islamabad and Beijing has grown over the past several decades. Both countries are ‘All-Weather Strategic Co-operative Partners’ and are committed to promote peace, development, and stability in the region based on the principles of respect for each other’s territorial integrity and sovereignty, win-win cooperation and shared development.  The long-standing ties between the two countries have been mutually beneficial. Unanimity of views and mutual interests remain the center-point of bilateral ties. The bilateral relationship between the two neighboring countries is characterized by feelings of mutual trust, respect and goodwill towards each other. There has been a regular exchange of visits at the highest level between the two countries. China Pakistan Economic Corridoris a flagship project of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s initiative of “One Road and One Belt, which will usher new era of regional connectivity and economic development.