MUZAFFARABAD: Former Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) prime minister and regional head of Pakistan Tehreek-eInsaf (PTI) Barrister Sultan Mahmood Chaudhry has called for amendments to the AJK Interim Constitution of 1974 to do away with `unrest and discontentment` among Kashmiris.

`Our interim constitution is flawed; amendments in it are the need of the hour to remove ambiguities on the one hand and empower the elected government in Muzaffarabad on the other,` he said in a conversation with Dawn here on Sunday.

He recalled that all through its election campaign the PML-N had repeatedly made `commitments` regarding the much-needed amendments to the constitution, but it had `swept the issue under the carpet` after coming to power a year and a half ago.

`This speaks volumes about the duplicity and double-dealing of the PML-N,` he said.

Mr Mahmood came down hard upon the AJK Council, saying it was acting as a `parallel government` to the detriment ofthe representative character of the one elected by Kashmiris through the power of their vote.

`An institution that is the product of the interim constitution is enjoying and exercising financial, executive and legislative powers in what has no precedence anywhere in the world and should therefore be undone without further ado,` he said.

He also recalled that before coming to power the incumbent AJK premier, Raja Farooq Haider, would vow day in day out that the abolition of the AJK Council was his `lifelong mission`.

`However, now he is completely content with the present dispensation... Adding insult to injury, he is feeling smug notwithstanding his utter failure to show any tangible progress vis-à-vis his tall claims,` he remarked.

He maintained that not a single claim Mr Haider had made before assuming the office of premier had been implemented by him.

`In a short span of time Raja Farooq Haider stands fully exposed as an equivocator and prevaricator,` he said.

The PTI chief also criticised deployment of `lent officers`in AJK by the federal government and demanded that these postsbe filled from among AJK`s bureaucracy.

Similarly, he said, the authority to appoint judges and chief election commissioner in AJK should also be returned to the AJK government, something it enjoyed under the 1970 constitution.

The PTI chief alleged that the 2016 general elections in AJK were rigged by PML-N and therefore AJK should also go to the polls along with the whole of Pakistan in mid-2018.

`History is testament to the fact that every ruling party in Islamabad leaves no stone unturned to bring its own chapter to power in Muzaffarabad and in order to do away with this unethical practice we have to go for polls across the country, including AJK, on the same day,` he said.

The PTI chief was also critical of AJK President Sardar Masood Khan, maintaining that the `justification` behind his nomination for this office had proved to be a `hoax` within a year and a half.

`They said being a former diplomat he would move heaven and earth to get the Kashmir issue resolved. But so far we haven`t seen anything extraordinary on his part. In fact he is still acting as a foreign officeclerk rather than a representative of the Kashmiris,` he said.