Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz on Tuesday promised public transport, education, healthcare and housing initiatives for Azad Jammu and Kashmir as she urged voters to support the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz in the forthcoming regional elections.
Addressing a PML-N rally in Muzaffarabad alongside party President Nawaz Sharif, Maryam described Kashmir as her ancestral home and said she was “Kashmiri by blood, heart and soul.” The rally was held as part of the party’s election campaign in the AJK capital.
“Kashmir is Pakistan’s jugular vein, and the love and prayers of the Kashmiri people can never be forgotten,” she told supporters.
Maryam announced 10 Green Line buses for Muzaffarabad and said 15 mobile hospitals would be provided so residents could receive medical treatment closer to their homes.
She said the Punjab government wanted to ensure that people in Muzaffarabad did not have to travel outside the region for treatment.
The chief minister also announced 5,000 laptops and 2,000 scholarships for students and young people in Azad Kashmir.
She pledged that a PML-N government would work to provide free education to every child in the region and introduce educational initiatives similar to those underway in Punjab, including the construction of new schools.
Maryam said housing programmes modelled on Punjab’s “Apni Chhat, Apna Ghar” initiative would also be extended to Azad Kashmir if the PML-N formed the government.
She promised the construction and rehabilitation of roads across the region and said Muzaffarabad and other AJK cities should receive the same level of attention given to Lahore, Rawalpindi, Multan and Faisalabad.
Maryam cited development projects, doorstep delivery of medicines and welfare initiatives in Punjab as examples of what her party could introduce in Azad Kashmir.
She said the Nawaz Sharif Cancer Hospital under construction in Lahore would have 1,000 beds and argued that residents of Azad Kashmir should also have access to advanced healthcare facilities without travelling long distances.
The Punjab chief minister accused rival parties of failing to resolve the region’s problems despite having held power. She also alleged that the PML-N had been deprived of 17 seats in the 2021 AJK elections.
“If there had been a PML-N government in Kashmir, the people would not be facing these problems today,” she said.
Maryam urged voters to compare development in areas governed by the PML-N with conditions in regions controlled by rival parties.
“Wherever Nawaz Sharif’s government ends, development also comes to an end,” she said, adding that the difference between the regions was the leadership and policies of Nawaz Sharif and the PML-N.
She said the party would change the future of Azad Kashmir if elected and claimed that the PML-N had a record of fulfilling its electoral promises.
Maryam also criticised political leaders who, she said, were visiting the region to deliver speeches and complain about problems despite their own parties being in government.
“Think carefully about your vote because it is a question of your future,” she told the gathering.
She said whoever became prime minister of Azad Kashmir after a PML-N victory would implement Nawaz Sharif’s development vision, describing the former prime minister as the party’s real guiding force in the region.