Senior leaders of the Pakistan Peoples Party and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz met in Muzaffarabad on Thursday in an effort to contain the political fallout from allegations of rigging in the Azad Jammu and Kashmir election, following what sources described as a message from Islamabad (Geo News).
The PPP side included Qamar Zaman Kaira, Nadeem Afzal Chan, AJK Prime Minister Faisal Rathore and Nayyar Bukhari. They met Rana Sanaullah and Amir Muqam of the PML-N.
Sources said both sides agreed that the current political confrontation should not be allowed to escalate further.
The meeting follows days of increasingly bitter exchanges between the two coalition partners after the Mirpur division polls, with the PPP alleging large-scale irregularities and questioning the credibility of the process.
PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari had warned that a countdown for the federal government would begin if the Azad Kashmir elections were rigged (Geo News). He has separately alleged evidence of polling stations recording 99 per cent turnout and said 30 polling stations were occupied — allegations the PML-N rejects and which no tribunal has ruled on.
The stakes are structural rather than rhetorical. The PPP’s support sustains the federal government’s majority, which is what gives a dispute over thirteen seats in a territorial assembly its national weight.
Two phases remain: Muzaffarabad division and the twelve refugee constituencies vote on August 2, and Poonch division on August 10.
