TARAR KHAL (AJK): Prime Minister Imran Khan on Friday said the prime focus of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf in the Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) would be the uplift of underprivileged people by ensuring education, health and subsidized food.
Addressing a huge public gathering here on the last day of election campaign for the AJK Legislative Assembly, he said the PTI had on its agenda several development projects aimed at poverty alleviation in the state.
The rally pulled a large crowd with people from all walks of life, including the local party workers and others from adjoining areas gathered in the AJK city of Tarar Khal.
The prime minister vowed to launch special programmes for low-income class in the AJK after his party won the upcoming election. He said for the 40 percent of the poor population, the ration cards for food items on subsidized rates would be introduced.
He said software for the said facility would be launched by December, a database of which had already been prepared.
He mentioned that the poor in AJK would get basic food items, including flour, pulses, edible oil and sugar on cheaper rates. Under the Kamyab Pakistan programme, he said, of the 40 percent low-income people, each member of the family would be given technical education and interest-free loans to help them earn their livelihood. Imran Khan said the PTI government would also introduce a health card scheme for the people in AJK with Rs one million health insurance per household.
Imran Khan said some political parties had already crying foul about rigging in the upcoming AJK elections despite the fact that for last one year, he had been inviting them for electoral reforms to ensure transparency through electronic voting machines.
Those making a hue and cry of false rigging assumptions were, in fact, afraid of their defeat in the elections, he added. How could the PTI carry out rigging with the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) government at the helm of affairs in the AJK, having its administration and the election commission of its choice, he questioned.
The prime minister said for being blessed with natural beauty, the valley of Kashmir was had immense potential to attract local and international tourists.
The PTI government aimed at realizing the true potential of AJK in terms of tourism and encourage the related economic activity in the area, he added.
The prime minister rejected the impression that the PTI wanted to make Azad Kashmir a province of Pakistan.
The PTI, he said, strongly believed in the United Nations Security Council resolutions under which the people of Jammu and Kashmir were given the right to choose whether they wanted to accede to Pakistan or India.
“InshaAllah, I am confident that the sacrifices of Kashmiri people will not go in vain and the day is not far when a referendum in Kashmir will be held to give them the right to decide about their fate,” he added.
Imran Khan said he always advocated the case of Kashmir at all international fora and vowed to continue highlighting the plight of people in the Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir.
Both PML-N leader Nawaz Sharif and Pakistan Peoples Party chief Asif Ali Zardari, he said, had never pleaded the case of Kashmir internationally during their tenures in government.
He pointed out that Nawaz Sharif, according to Indian journalist Barkha Dutt, held secret meetings with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Nepal against the Pakistan Army. He (Nawaz Sharif) also invited Modi, who was involved in firing pellet gunshots at the Kashmiris, to his family marriage ceremonies, but did not bother to meet the Kashmiri Hurriyat leaders in India, he added.
Imran Khan paid tribute to the detained Kashmiri leaders Ali Geelani and Yasin Malik, saying that the entire Pakistani nation stood with them in their just struggle to the right to self-determination.
Federal Minister for Kashmir Affairs Ali Amin Gandapur, speaking on the occasion, said the PTI candidates would defeat other contestants giving a message that the people rejected the looters and exploiters.
PTI candidate for AJK Legislative Assembly Sardar Tanveer Ilyas said the people of Poonch looked towards Imran Khan as their leader, who could bring about development and prosperity in their area.
Sardar Faheem Akhtar Rabbani, PTI’s ticket holder, said the party after winning election would focus on providing facilities of education, health and tourism to the AJK people. He also mentioned that the PTI would provide scholarships to the deserving students.
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