Tribune News Service

Jammu, May 16

In a major development in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK), political parties have demanded repealing of laws that requires candidates contesting elections to sign an affidavit of allegiance to the “ideology of the state’s accession to Pakistan.”According to several media reports, leaders from different ‘nationalist parties’ in PoK, who have been demanding an ‘independent J&K’, have emphasised the need for doing away with the Azad Jammu and Kashmir Interim Constitution Act, 1974, and electing a constituent assembly to draft an independent constitution for the state under occupation of Pakistan.Reports say that during a conference, “Election of AJK Assembly under Act 1974 and the Rights of People of AJK,” representatives from United Kashmir People’s National Party (UKPNP) and the Awami Workers Party (AWP) put forward these demands.Parties have also denounced what they called undue interference by Islamabad in matters of the state through the ‘AJK Council’ and the Ministry of Kashmir Affairs.Sub-section II of Section VII of the Act says, “No person or political party in ‘Azad Jammu’ and Kashmir shall be permitted to propagate against, or take part in activities prejudicial or detrimental to, the ideology of the state’s accession to Pakistan.”Since 1947, when Pakistan occupied part of Jammu and Kashmir after it invaded the state, every effort has been made to muzzle the democratic voice of people. Unlike J&K which saw successive democratic elections allowing public representatives to take policy decision, Pakistan army is the major decision maker in PoK.