The PML-N on Tuesday formally kicked off its election campaign in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK), with party supremo Nawaz Sharif addressing supporters in the regional capital.

Elections in AJK, previously set for July 27, are now to be held in three division-wise stages, beginning on July 27 and concluding on August 10.

Flanked by Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz, the ex-premier began his address by noting that he was among the people of Muzaffarabad after several years.

He expressed his affection for the people of Kashmir and highlighted the absence of a motorway between Kohala and Muzaffarabad.

“A most beautiful motorway should be constructed along the Jhelum River from Mansehra to Muzaffarabad, and from Muzaffarabad to Mirpur,” the PML-N supremo said.

He recalled that he had approved a plan for the region’s development when his party’s Raja Farooq Haider was the AJK PM in his last tenure.

Nawaz said that he had never differentiated between AJK and the provinces of Pakistan. “AJK is as dear to me as Punjab is. It is my second home.”

Reminiscent of his older public addresses, the PML-N president said, “I know you love me. I love you too. The people of Muzaffarabad always want to hear this from me.”

Asserting that Muzaffarabad should be made into the most beautiful city of Pakistan, Nawaz said he told Maryam that the steps she is taking for Punjab as the chief minister should be replicated in AJK.

He reiterated that whatever CM Maryam was doing in Lahore and other cities of Punjab should also be “copied” in Muzaffarabad and other cities of AJK.

“I told Maryam that you are coming here as a guest goes to a host’s home with fruits and sweets, so present the same to the people of Muzaffarabad,” he said, adding that the PML-N’s manifesto was wide-ranging.

Nawaz promised that every development project would be implemented and that the PML-N would resolve “all the issues” if it wins the elections.

He cautioned his party leadership in AJK that he would visit AJK after every three months to see whether the party’s manifesto was being implemented or not.

“If we win the election, I will come after every three months, and will visit each and every street with the prime minister.”

Nawaz highlighted that when he was the prime minister of Pakistan, he had doubled the budget of AJK. “We will not double it this time; we will increase this by 10 times,” he declared.

For Muzaffarabad, he announced that at least 10 green buses would arrive in AJK within the next few days. “You will see electric buses running on Muzaffarabad’s roads in the upcoming days.”

“We are also bringing 12 hospitals on wheels/mobile hospitals here within a few days,” he added, while regretting that people of AJK did not have adequate health and emergency facilities.

He also criticised the governments that ruled AJK after PML-N, claiming that they did not do anything other than “sloganeering and inciting people’s emotions”.

The PML-N has announced its candidates for 37 of the 45 constituencies of the AJK Legislative Assembly.

‘Never-ending relationship’

In her address at the gathering, CM Maryam said that the people of Kashmir were like a family to her.

She remarked that Pakistan and Kashmir had a “never-ending” relationship.

The Punjab CM also referred to the situation in the region ongoing for the past over a month: “If there was Nawaz Sharif’s government in AJK, it would not face these issues as it is facing right now.”

She claimed that during the 2021 elections in AJK, the PML-N had won 17 seats and the PTI could get only three. However, she alleged, then-PM Imran Khan ordered the swap of the voting results, stealing the PML-N’s mandate.

More to follow