Constitutional amendment to decide fate of refugee seats in legislative assembly, rules AJK SC

Vindicating the government’s stance on 12 seats reserved for the Kashmiri refugees in the Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) Legislative Assembly, the AJK Supreme Court (SC), in its opinion given on the presidential reference on Sunday, ruled that a constitutional amendment under Article 33 was inevitable to bring about any change in the number of these seats, reported 24NewsHD TV channel.

The apex court said that these seats had been provided a constitutional protection under Article 22, and these could not be altered by an administrative order.

Furthermore, it said that a constitutional amendment was only possible through parliamentary debate.

It also declared that holding elections on time was mandatory, and that protest or any political dispute could not become an obstacle in the way of holding of elections.

It also made it clear that these were not protest demonstrations, but the supremacy of the constitution, which was a decisive factor in AJK’s politics, and that it was mandatory on the administration to ensure peace by making sure that people did not violate laws of the land.

The AJK president had filed a reference in the court under Article 46-A of the constitution.

Reporter: Ahmad Mansoor