AJK govt wants its due share of funds from Islamabad.

MUZAFFARABAD -- In view of the sacrifices and the contribution of Kashmiris to the prosperity of Pakistan, it's the right of the liberated territory of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) to get its due share of funds from Islamabad for its development and betterment.

This was the crux of a press conference by four key members of the AJK cabinet here on Tuesday on the issue of alleged budget cuts by the PML-N led federal government.

The cabinet members included Minister for Local Government and Rural Development Khawaja Farooq Ahmed, Minister for Agriculture, Livestock and Irrigation Sardar Mir Akbar, Minister for Hydropower Generation, Planning and Development Chaudhry Mohammad Rasheed and Special Assistant on Information Chaudhry Rafique Nayyar.

'Nevertheless, the PML-N led federal government seems to be bent upon stopping the wheel of development in Azad Kashmir which we condemn vehemently,' remarked planning and development minister Mohammad Rasheed.

The cabinet members alleged that whenever the PML-N came into power in Pakistan it had either slashed AJK's budget or withheld its quarterly tranches while over the past three years PM Imran Khan's government had consistently increased AJK's development portfolio.

'In 1997-98, the PML-N had also trimmed our development budget and the cuts were reversed by Gen Pervez Musharraf,' said Mr Nayyar who was a minister at that time.

Mr Ahmed maintained pointed out that AJK's current fiscal's budget was prepared by the [previous] PML-N government which the PTI government implemented without change.

'Practically, the upcoming budget is our first budget and while we were expecting our development portfolio to swell to Rs45 billion, they...