Daily Times

MUZAFFARABAD: Justice Ghulam Mustafa Mughal, chief justice of the Azad Jammu and Kashmir High Court (AJKHC), on Friday took oath as chief election commissioner (CEC) of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK).Justice Mughal will conduct the general elections in the AJK in summer this year.

Justice Muhammad Azam Khan, chief justice of the Azad Jammu and Kashmir Supreme Court (AJKSC), administered the oath to Justice Mughal at a simple but dignified ceremony at the Supreme Court building.

Prominent among those who attended the ceremony were AJK ministers Syed Bazil Ali Naqvi and Abdul Majid Khan, Adviser to the President Raja Sajid, Chief Secretary Sikandar Sultan Raja, Additional Chief Secretary Syed Asif Shah, Senior Member of the Board of Revenue Naeem Shiraz and Law Secretary Idrees Abbasi.

In a related development, Federal Minister for Kashmir Affairs and Gilgit-Baltistan Chaudhry Barjees Tahir on Friday expressed his satisfaction with the appointment of chief election commissioner in the AJK and said the appointment paved the way for transparent general elections.

In a statement issued here, Tahir said that Supreme Court’s verdict on the appointment of the chief election commissioner was the victory of the constitution. “The appointment of the CEC in the AJK has ended the uncertainty and now all political parties can focus on the upcoming general election,” he said. He said it was now political parties’ duty to cooperate with the CEC for free, fair and transparent general elections. Tahir said that outdated electoral rolls were the main hurdle in the way of transparent elections and they needed to be computerised. He expressed the hope that the new CEC would play his role to have the electoral rolls computerised.