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| Report pricks Pakistan's 'Azad Kashmir' balloon | | 'Islamabad runs region, Azad a mere myth' | | ET Report
srinagar, Apr 13: A recent report published in Pakistan itself has caused stir in South Asia's political landscape- puncturing the claims of Pakistan over terming its occupied territory of Kashmir as 'sovereign'.
The report has stated that the legal governance of 'Azad' Kashmir is mere myth aimed to create a misconception across. "The constitution of Azad Kashmir gives it a lot of symbolic independence - for instance, it has a Prime Minister whereas Indian Kashmir only has a Chief Minister. But if you read Article 21 of the 1974 Interim Constitution Act passed by the 48-member Azad Jammu and Kashmir unicameral Assembly in 1974, describing the Azad Jammu and Kashmir Council, it becomes apparent that the AJK PM is as completely subordinated to the PM of Pakistan," reads the report, adding that the council is chaired by the PM of Pakistan, and its secretariat virtually runs Azad Kashmir from Islamabad.
"In fact, the secretary of Kashmir Affairs in Islamabad may be more powerful than the elected PM of Azad Kashmir. There's a high court in Azad Kashmir, but an appeal against its decisions lies in the Supreme Court of Pakistan," claims the report.
It adds that Pakistan has eroded the special status of the region through Article 21 of the 1974 Interim Constitution Act. The report says further that a classic study by Australian scholar Christopher Snedden, The Untold Story of the People of Azad Kashmir (2012), seeks to prove, on the basis of the written testimony of Sardar Abdul Qayyum, late PM of Azad Kashmir, that it was indeed so: "Bhutto was thought to have India's approval to provincialise Azad Kashmir. He obtained this via an oral but secret and unwritten agreement made with then India's Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi, as part of their post-war Simla Agreement of 1972.
Now, when the separatist leaders are every day after issuing the pro- Pak rant, eulogising how the people in other Kashmir is living 'freely', the report could be seen silencing them at large. Further it has punctured the claims of the Pakistan's dispensation of according sovereign status to Kashmir which is under its control since the tribal invasion of 1947.
There are voices of concern being heard that the separatist camp in Kashmir should be aware that even in PaK there are several curbs on 'azadi'. Pertinently, the Government in Pakistan banned sixteen books published by National Institute of Kashmir Studies. This move once again demonstrated that in what is officially known as 'Azad Jammu and Kashmir' (AJK) the citizens don't actually enjoy 'azadi'. What makes this decision of the PaK Government even more disturbing is that all these banned books that were written by Kashmiris. |
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