PTI notifies seven-member board for AJK polls

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf on Friday notified a seven-member parliamentary board for the selection of candidates for the upcoming polls for Azad Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly.

The notification issued by PTI Chief Organiser Saifullah Khan Nyazee says Central Senior Vice President Arshad Dad will head the board while Minister for Kashmir Affairs Ali Amin Gandapur and PTI Azad Jammu and Kashmir President Barrister Sultan Mehmood Chaudhry will be part of the board, besides Khwaja Farooq, Raja Mansoor, Qayyum Niazi and Ghulam Mohi-ud-Din as its members.

However, the development has not been received warmly by PTI Azad Kashmir's ‘ideological workers’ who are likely to formally react strongly to the parliamentary board. They have rejected the board, billing it as imbalanced and anti-merit. It was claimed that Khwaja Farooq, Qayyum Niazi and Ghulam Mohi-ud-Din are not part of the governing body of Azad Kashmir while anti-Barrister Sultan members were also ignored in the governing body. They said the party board consists of the same officials including the chairman, who were earlier in the steering committee.

It is to be noted that the steering committee was formed so that those who want to join the party get approval from the chief organizer after scrutiny by the steering committee and then they will be able to join the party. Seven people had joined the PTI in Azad Kashmir and then the process of joining was stopped.