MIRPUR: Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President Nawaz Sharif took a swipe at Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari during an election rally in Mirpur, saying, “This is Kashmir, not Kashmore, and this is Mirpur, not Mirpurkhas.”
Addressing the public gathering, Nawaz said Bilawal should not mind his remarks, adding that healthy political rivalry was part of democratic politics and should never lead to violence.
The former prime minister said he regarded Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) as his first home and questioned the performance of governments that came after his tenure.
“I want to ask what those who came after me did for AJK,” he said.
Highlighting the PML-N’s election manifesto, Nawaz said no other political party had delivered development projects in AJK comparable to those initiated by his party.
He pledged to prioritise education for the youth and announced plans to establish more cancer and cardiac hospitals across the region.
The PML-N leader also said Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz would provide electric buses and 10 mobile hospitals for Mirpur.
Promising major infrastructure projects, Nawaz said a future PML-N government in AJK would construct motorways across the region, build an expressway linking Murree with Muzaffarabad, extend natural gas to every household in Mirpur and seek approval from Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif for an international airport in the city.
Addressing the rally, Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz expressed confidence that the PML-N would secure victory across all three divisions of Azad Jammu and Kashmir in the upcoming elections.
She said the region possessed abundant resources but required improved infrastructure and effective governance.
“There is no shortage of resources in AJK. The real need is better infrastructure, including hospitals, metro and electric bus services, ration programmes, housing schemes and the political will to deliver them,” she said.
Maryam Nawaz pledged that welfare initiatives and public services currently available in Punjab would also be introduced in Azad Jammu and Kashmir if the PML-N forms the next regional government.
Elections for the Azad Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly will be held in three phases, with polling in Mirpur Division on July 27, Muzaffarabad Division on August 2 and Poonch Division on August 10.
