‘Azad Kashmir is as dear to me as Punjab’: Nawaz Sharif kicks off election campaign

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supremo Nawaz Sharif on Tuesday kicked off his election campaign in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK), describing the region as his second home and saying it was as dear to him as Punjab.

“Azad Kashmir is as dear to me as Punjab,” Nawaz said while addressing a public gathering in Muzaffarabad, adding that there had been no discrimination in development projects across AJK, Gilgit-Baltistan and the four provinces.

The PML-N leader was accompanied by Maryam Nawaz and former AJK prime minister Raja Farooq Haider on the stage.

Nawaz expressed his desire to become the prime minister of Azad Jammu and Kashmir, saying he would request Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to appoint him to the position if his party won the upcoming elections in the region.

“If you vote for the PML-N, I will come to Azad Kashmir every three months and personally resolve people’s problems,” he said.

Nawaz highlighted development projects in Punjab and said similar initiatives would be introduced in AJK. He said he had instructed Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz that development work being carried out in Punjab should also be replicated in Muzaffarabad and other parts of AJK.

“On winning the Azad Kashmir elections, we will bring every project here. Projects like those in Punjab will also be built in Azad Kashmir,” he said, adding that motorway-style projects would also be developed in the region.

Lamenting the lack of development in the area, Nawaz said that while the rest of the country witnessed the construction of motorways and expressways, the road to Muzaffarabad had remained unchanged.

He said his government had proposed constructing a motorway from Mansehra to Muzaffarabad and then to Mirpur along the Jhelum River.

According to Nawaz, the motorway would have spurred development in the region, leading to the construction of roads, hospitals, schools, colleges and universities.

The PML-N supremo said he had doubled AJK’s budget during his previous tenure as prime minister and pledged to increase it tenfold if his party formed the government in the region.

“You know that Nawaz Sharif fulfils the promises he makes,” he said.

He also praised PM Shehbaz’s role in Punjab’s development and said Maryam was continuing those initiatives.

Nawaz announced that the Punjab government would provide 10 electric, air-conditioned Green Buses to Muzaffarabad, saying the buses would arrive within days.

He told the gathering that the buses were powered by electricity and equipped with air conditioning.