LAHORE: Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz has seized the opportunity provided by her party's success in Phase One of the Azad Jammu and Kashmir elections to issue a sharp public warning to PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari. She advised Bilawal to focus on improving governance in Sindh and refrain from commenting on the situations prevailing in other provinces

CM Maryam congratulated the PML-N workers for winning the AJK election and credited Nawaz Sharif’s reputation with the people of AJK for this victory in her interview after the first phase of AJK elections and then began criticizing the performance of PPP in power

Maryam Nawaz’s Interpretation of the AJK Election Results

CM Maryam Nawaz interpreted the election results in AJK as an opinion of the people on the performance and credibility of their leaders and not in terms of an inherent advantage:

"The people of AJK have liked Nawaz Sharif's presence and leadership. The voters are aware that Nawaz Sharif is true to his promise. We have successfully completed the first phase of elections."
CM Maryam Nawaz Sharif

She spoke to Bilawal Bhutto regarding his accusation of rigging after the elections:

“I want to tell Bilawal Bhutto Zardari that it is the people, not the state, who decide election results. You immediately accused rigging after your loss in Azad Kashmir elections.”
CM Maryam Nawaz Sharif

However, the essence of the AJK election criticism lies in the development aspect, diverting the focus of the discussion from the results to what the PPP has been able to achieve during their years in power in Sindh:

"Bilawal Sahab, you never had anything to offer the people in terms of any achievement or any plan. Maybe you yourself don’t know what facilities the people of AJK require."
CM Maryam Nawaz Sharif

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AJK elections exchange is a manifestation of the competitive relationship that exists between PML-N and PPP alongside their partnership in the federal government, which is a common characteristic of the politics of Pakistan in which political parties at the national level have competitions among themselves at the provincial and regional level.

The importance of the AJK elections lies in the symbolism associated with the elections since AJK is a political region where various political parties contest for dominance in an area where elections carry a special significance due to its status. The victory of PML-N in phase one will give Maryam Nawaz enough political capital to position the win as a validation of her party’s leadership quality in national politics in order to highlight its superiority over PPP’s governance of Sindh.

The task of Bilawal Bhutto and the PPP is how to counter the criticism leveled against Sindh’s governance without ceding the narrative that Maryam Nawaz is developing on development in Punjab.