MUZAFFARABAD: The Azad Jammu and Kashmir Supreme Court has observed that any amendment in the region\u2019s constitution was \u201cnot a concession to be wrested\u201d from the government, as the court issued its advice on a presidential reference, which emerged on Sunday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The advisory opinion came in response to a reference<\/a> filed by acting AJK President Chaudhry Latif Akbar under Article 46-A of the Interim Constitution Act, 1974 after the recently proscribed<\/a> Joint Awami Action Committee (JAAC) demanded the abolition of 12 refugee seats in the legislative assembly ahead of the July 27 elections<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The 12 seats are reserved for refugees from Indian-occupied Jammu and Kashmir, who settled in mainland Pakistan after 1947. JAAC alleges that these seats were often used by mainstream Pakistani political parties to influence the formation of governments in Muzaffarabad.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The presidential reference had sought answers to five key questions over the constitutional status of the refugee seats, the legislature\u2019s competence to introduce a fundamental constitutional amendment at the present stage, the constitutional limits of the rights of assembly and association, and the state\u2019s obligation to protect the electoral process and reject extra-constitutional demands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the advisory opinion, dated June 6 and available with Dawn<\/em>, AJK SC Chief Justice Raja Saeed Akram Khan held that the constitution of the AJK was the \u201csupreme law\u201d of the state and its provisions the \u201cproperty of the people of Azad Jammu and Kashmir and of the whole Kashmiri people\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe amendment of the constitution is a solemn constitutional act, not a concession to be wrested from a government under duress,\u201d the opinion declared.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt can only be accomplished through the process the constitution itself prescribes, by an assembly possessed of the full democratic mandate of the people, after deliberation, consultation, and consensus-building,\u201d the advisory opinion read.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The court stated that the advisory opinion was being tendered after \u201cfull consideration of the constitutional provisions, the legislative and historical background of the refugee seats, the factual matrix placed before this court, and the submissions of the advocate general and the learned amicus curiae\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The court observed that the AJK government remained legally obligated to hold elections within the time stipulated by the constitution. It maintained that the constitution was not a \u201cdocument to be honoured when convenient and discarded when inconvenient\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe constitution endures because its guardians, ie, the government, the legislature, the judiciary, and ultimately the people, stand firm in its defence.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The court\u2019s opinion came a day after the region\u2019s government proscribed<\/a> the JAAC, days before the group is scheduled to stage a protest on June 9. The JAAC\u2019s latest protest call centred around the highly contentious demand to abolish the 12 refugee seats in the region\u2019s Legislative Assembly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It has also been calling for economic reforms to lower energy prices and provide free healthcare.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Tariq Fazal Chaudhry said<\/a> on Sunday that most of those demands had been met.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt\u2019s negative and false propaganda that the government hasn\u2019t addressed the demands. Out of 38 demands, 35 have been addressed,\u201d he said at a media conference.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The same day, AJK Chief Election Commissioner retired Justice Ghulam Mustafa Mughal said while announcing the election schedule that the elections on refugee seats had previously been conducted under judicial supervision, but after the judiciary withdrew from the process, the responsibility would now be carried out by officials of the Election Commission of Pakistan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Responding to a question about the planned JAAC protests<\/u><\/a>, he said a prolonged agitation could affect the electoral process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n