Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari on Sunday promised greater constitutional rights for Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK), renewed his call for a Truth and Reconciliation Commission to address AJK’s recent unrest, and urged the federal government to restore internet services immediately.

Addressing a public rally in Kotli ahead of the July 27 elections in the region, Bilawal said the PPP would seek observer representation for AJK in Pakistan’s key constitutional institutions, including the Council of Common Interests (CCI), the National Finance Commission (NFC), and the National Assembly.

Presenting the PPP’s election agenda, Bilawal said his party stood for the “right to rule, right to ownership and right to employment,” adding that AJK’s natural resources belonged to its people.

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He said the proposal envisaged protesters suspending demonstrations while the state halted action until an independent inquiry completed its findings.

Urging dialogue, Bilawal said neither the protesters nor the government’s representatives had responded to the proposal and called on the federal government to restore internet services, saying ordinary AJK people should not suffer because of the dispute.

The PPP chairman also accused political rivals of victimising his party workers through police cases and expressed confidence that PPP candidates would secure victories across Kotli district.

He urged voters to give his party a stronger mandate in the upcoming elections, saying the political circumstances were more favourable for the PPP than they had been during the last polls.

Bilawal said the party had received a large number of applications from aspiring candidates, making the ticket distribution process challenging. However, he said he had instructed the party leadership to award tickets only to loyal party workers.

Referring to the previous AJK elections, he said the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) was in power in the region while the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) headed the federal government. Despite those circumstances, he claimed, the PPP had secured substantial public support and, in his view, had effectively won the election.

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He said the situation had since changed, noting that the PPP had been in power in AJK for the past six months, while the federal government was led by “our friend Shehbaz Sharif”.

He said the PPP would not face the same challenges it had encountered in the previous election and appealed to voters to support the party in greater numbers than they had in the last polls.

The July 27 AJK elections, he said, would determine whether the people endorsed the PPP’s vision for greater political rights and economic opportunities in the region.