MUZAFFARABAD, Aug 2: Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) cabinet here on Saturday decided in principle that the prime minister's family would be entitled to pension but an official said details in this regard would later be worked out by the law department.

Information Secretary Fayyaz Ali Abbasi told reporters that as the cabinet came across the issue of payment of pension to the widow of a former prime minister it held a “threadbare discussion” on the issue and decided that the pension should be permissible to the family of every premier and should be referred to as “family pension”.

“Since the family will be entitled to pension only when the prime minister himself is entitled to pension, the law department has been directed to draft the law accordingly,” said Mr Abbasi, tending to avoid more questions on the issue.

It may be mentioned here that the AJK Legislative Assembly has already approved ‘The AJK Legislative Assembly Members Pension Fund Act 2008’ whereby an amount of Rs7,000 or Rs10,000 would be paid as monthly pension to MLAs (or their families) who have held this office for one term or more. The law was initially adopted in 2003 and later amended in 2006. The prime minister, being an MLA, is also entitled to this payment.

Prior to that, the previous government had also enacted a law which would ensure provision of a house or Rs25,000 per month, an official vehicle, 400 litres of petrol per month and a driver-cum-gunman.

Mr Abbasi said the cabinet had decided to reinforce the Special Branch and IGP Javed Noor was directed to take steps in this regard. The prime minister had also directed the IGP to establish ‘Kashmir Bureau of Intelligence’, he added, but did not elaborate as to how this would be done.

The cabinet, Mr Abbasi said, also approved provision of more than 8,000 kanals of ‘submerged land’ in Mirpur district to a hydropower project in private sector on a 25-year lease against a yearly rent of Rs100 per kanal.

According to AJK grant of Khalsa Land (Ground Rent and Lease) Rules 1985, the areas outside municipal limits can be leased out against a yearly rent of Rs400 per kanal and the maximum limit for lease of land for industrial purpose is 40 kanals. However, Mr Abbasi said, in view of the involvement of over 8,000 kanals, the matter was placed before the cabinet which took a favourable decision in line with the government’s policy to attract maximum investment to tap the rich hydropower potential in AJK.

RESOLUTIONS: The cabinet welcomed the recent round of talks between the foreign secretaries of India and Pakistan as well as the Kashmir specific-decisions taken therein, Mr Abbasi said.

“The cabinet warmly welcomes the decisions to open more entry points along the Line of Control, initiate trade and truck service between the divided parts, increase the frequency of trans-Kashmir bus service and simplify the travelling permit regime,” said a resolution adopted by the cabinet, expressing the hope that the “Indian army would refrain from provocative actions leading to ceasefire violations along the LoC for the sake of peace process and (maintenance of) a cordial atmosphere in the region”.