ISLAMABAD — The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has distanced itself from the opposition alliance’s no-confidence motion against the Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) prime minister and the subsequent process to elect a new premier, calling the effort a “political game” designed to weaken public representation, according to “The Express Tribune”.
At a high-level meeting held at Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa House in Islamabad on Tuesday, PTI’s senior leadership decided the party would not take part in the no-confidence vote or the election process. The party, however, pledged to continue its role as the public’s voice in the assembly and to challenge the incoming government politically.
Following the meeting, PTI Secretary General Salman Akram Raja accused rival parties of orchestrating a “power play” in AJK. “A political game is being played in Azad Kashmir where the true representatives of the people already exist,” he said. “The same powerful forces are again behind this artificial system; the same faces who have always manipulated the process.”
Raja said PTI would continue to stand “before the court of the people,” insisting the move was not genuine political change but “a battle between truth and deceit.” He added that Imran Khan “still lives in the hearts of the people” and that “replacing one face with another is not a political victory.”
Opposition Leader Khawaja Farooq Ahmed echoed the stance, declaring the assembly “has lost credibility” and urging the formation of a neutral Election Commission to oversee general elections. Former AJK prime minister Sardar Abdul Qayyum Niazi accused authorities of reimposing a “hybrid system” in the region, saying PTI would remain detached from the process while demanding free and fair polls.
