LAHORE: Pakistan Peoples Party’s Lahore chapter president Faisal Mir has accused the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) of large-scale rigging in the recent Azad Kashmir election, demanding the results be annulled and a fresh vote held under military supervision.
Addressing a press conference, Mir claimed non-Kashmiris voted in place of genuine Kashmiri residents in Lahore, and that PPP’s polling agents were forced out of stations before counting, particularly for candidate Colonel Qadeer.
He alleged PML-N distributed 60 million rupees per district before the polls to buy votes, deployed police and armed workers to intimidate voters in Lahore and Jhang and barred candidates’ representatives from carrying phones to prevent evidence collection. Mir also alleged threats against Kashmiri refugees over land allotments and claimed ballot boxes were kept on presiding officers’ desks rather than at a distance.
Responding to a question, he said the manner in which the elections were conducted suggested that Nawaz Sharif harboured ambitions of becoming the Prime Minister of Azad Jammu and Kashmir. Asked whether Nawaz Sharif was serious about this ambition, he said he could not say for certain, but the scale of rigging orchestrated by PML-N gave every indication that Nawaz Sharif indeed wanted to become the Prime Minister of Azad Kashmir.
General Secretary Ayesha Shaukat, Deputy General Secretary Khurram Farooq, and Deputy Information Secretaries Ahmed Ghuman and Hassan Abbas were also present on the occasion.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2026
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