The Hindu : PoK PM, President engaged in a tug-of-war

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Sep 24, 2002

International

International

PoK PM, President engaged in a tug-of-war

By B. Muralidhar Reddy

ISLAMABAD Sept. 23 . The Pak-occupied Kashmir (PoK) Prime Minister, Sardar Sikandar Hayat Khan, and the President, Muhammad Anwar Khan, are engaged in a tug-of-war over their `powers' amid a proposal mooted by the Pakistan Government for abolishing the post of either the Prime Minister or the President.

Sardar Hayat Khan has categorically rejected the proposal and dubbed it `unconstitutional'. The PoK President was a serving General in the Pakistan Army and was elected just two days after he took voluntary retirement from service. The manner in which the ruling party in PoK elected Gen. (retd.) Anwar Khan gave room to suspicions that the Pakistan Army wanted one of its officers at the helm of affairs in PoK.

Local media said Sardar Hayat Khan on Sunday chose to do some plain-speaking with Anwar Khan. Sardar Hayat Khan told newsmen in the Prime Minister's Secretariat in Muzaffarabad, PoK capital, that under the Constitution, it was not right for the President to expect the same powers as Prime Minister. He said if the Federal Government sought amendments in the powers then it should forward the proposed constitutional package to the PoK Assembly.

He said that Anwar Khan was interfering in the official matters of the elected Government and this affected the performance. ``How I can remain silent over the disturbance of the right of the people when someone interferes in the official matters. This will be injustice.''

He said the ``federal Government has asked me to share powers with the President which is impossible for me, because we have achieved this goal by struggling for a long time''.

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