MUZAFFARABAD: A vocal member of the virtually defunct Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) Council belonging to the PPP has asked Prime Minister Anwarul Haq to take serious stock of the “wastage” of resources of Kashmiri taxpayers on “unwarranted as well as suspicious administrative expenditures” in the council secretariat.

“Over the years, the inductions of council employees have either been made in violation of merit through the backdoor or on deputation in violation of the state’s deputation policy which warrants your immediate attention in your capacity as the custodian of public exchequer,” said Khawaja Tariq Saeed in a letter to PM Haq, copy of which is available with Dawn.

A lawyer by profession, Mr Saeed was elected AJK Council member in August 2021 on PPP ticket for a five-year term.

The council was created under the AJK’s interim Constitution Act 1974 to serve as a bridge between the governments in Muzaffarabad and Islamabad with the prime minister of Pakistan its chairman and federal minister for Kashmir affairs in-charge of its secretariat in the federal capital.

Until the approval of 13thconstitutional amendment in June 2018, the council enjoyed all three - executive, legislative and financial - powers, wielding direct control over the Inland Revenue Department and accountant general’s office.

However, the 13thamendment clipped almost all of its powers, abolished its separate consolidated fund and reduced its status to an advisory body.

The amendment did not disturb its composition and the council still comprises six elected members from amongst the state subjects and six co-opted members from the federal cabinet.

However, neither before and nor after the 13thamendment the elected council members enjoyed any tangible role or say in the affairs of the institution where the federal minister and federal bureaucrats havealways ruled the roost.

Though after the passage of 13thamendment, the council secretariat has no functions to perform, the AJK finance department has been providing over Rs500 million from the taxpayers’ money to meet the expenditures of its nearly 290 employees, 90 of them gazette officers.

In the current year’s budget, Rs545 million were earmarked for the council secretariat in lump-sum but they had sought additional funds in supplementary budget, a finance department official told Dawn, adding Rs558 million had been earmarked for them in next year’s budget.

Interestingly, even the elected council members do not possess exact information about the strength of the employees at their secretariat, the source of their induction and disbursement of allocation by the AJK government.

Dawn did not get a response from AJK’s council’s joint secretary Samiullah Khan on the number of employees.Similarly, the office of Qamar Zaman Kaira, PM’s adviser on Kashmir affairs, also failed to answer this question, citing unavailability of the concerned admin officer.

Mr Saeed claimed in his letter that he had repeatedly asked those at the helm of affairs in the council to undo all unlawful and unneeded appointments to do away with this “corrupt practice” but to no avail.

He maintained that while people in many remote areas of AJK, including in his constituency in Haveli, lacked basic civic amenities for want of resources, “frittering away public funds on salaries, perks and privileges of unneeded officials was highly unjustified, inexcusable and unaffordable.”

Mr Saeed also called upon the AJK premier to determine the role of elected members so that they could prove themselves beneficial for their state and people.

“Otherwise, there is no point in retaining this institution in its present form. Rather, its abolition would be in the best public interest,” he concluded.

Published in Dawn, June 28th, 2023