The Azad Jammu and Kashmir Government has locked horns with the Government of Pakistan when the latter barred it from raising government employees’ salaries by 35 percent which prompted the AJK premier to halt budget presentation, reported 24NewsHD TV channel.

Sources revealed on Wednesday that AJK Prime Minister Raja Farooq Haider wanted to increase government employees’ salaries by 35%. But the Government of Pakistan is pressuring the AJK government that the 35% raise is not acceptable, the sources added.

AJK Prime Minister Haider while rejecting such notion of the federal government, decided not to present the annual fiscal plan of the state. He said that he would not present the budget 2021/22 unless his reservations were removed.

The federal government has announced a 10% increase in the emoluments of the government employees and pensions of the retired workers. 

Reporter Zahid Bashir