NISAR AHMED THOKAR/ROSHAN MUGHAL

Islamabad/Muzaffarabad July 26: After a day long deliberations with his close aides and key supporters, the Prime Minister of AJK, Raja Farooq Haider Khan, finally announced to quit the office on Monday, a day before vote of no-confidence was to be tabled against him in the AJK legislative Assembly.  
 Addressing a news conference in Islamabad Khan said that he had sent his resignation to the AJK President Raja Zulqarnain Khan. He said that as Prime Minister he made all out efforts to strengthen institutions besides ensuring good governance and rule of law in the state.
 He however maintained that his only sin was that he struggled for the rights of the people of AJK and raised their genuine demands forthrightly. He said that besides raising the genuine issues he had safeguarded the interests of Pakistan as well in accordance with the law of the land.
 He said that the federal government had failed to address the issues confronted by the people of the region.
 Regarding the no-confidence-motion he said that it was astonishing to see that the motion was tabled by the non-Muslim Conference (MC) legislators saying that it would have been better if the case would have been discussed in the MC’s parliamentary body.
 He flayed the MC Chief Sardar Attique Ahmed Khan for playing a “destructive role.” “Since the day I took over as the AJK Prime Minister he played a very negative role. He left no stone unturned to destabilize my government,” he added. 
 He accused Pakistan president Asif Ali Zardari of playing a “pivotal role” to topple his government. “Sardar Attique Khan has the full backing of the PPP led federal government.”        
 Khan said that in collaboration with PPP the MC chief had planned to file no-confidence motion even before the budget session. He also thanked Nawaz Sahrief for providing all out support to his government.
 As per the constitution of AJK Farooq Haider would constitutionally remain prime minister for 14-days.
 Pertinently, Farooq Hadier had assumed the office of premiership in October 2009.
 Earlier, Farooq Hadier with the support of Sardar Attique Ahmed Khan had toppled a nine month old Govt of Sardar Yaqub Khan which was formed after Sardar Attique Khan’s government was brought down.

Lastupdate on : Mon, 26 Jul 2010 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Mon, 26 Jul 2010 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Tue, 27 Jul 2010 00:00:00 IST