MUZAFFARABAD, Nov 20: Azad Kashmir’s acting chief election commissioner Justice Reaz Akhtar Chaudhry has announced postponement of by-election due in a Kashmiri refugees’ constituency in the NWFP following the death of an AJK lawmaker in the quake.

“Since the quake has not only affected AJK but also several parts of the neighbouring Frontier province, we have come to the conclusion that it is not possible to conduct the by-poll in the prevailing circumstances,” the acting CEC, who is also the Chief Justice of the AJK High Court, told a news conference on Sunday.

“I announce postponement of the by-poll for the time being. But as soon as conditions return to normal, we will conduct the exercise,” he added.

Khan Abdul Waheed Khan, MLA from LA 40, Kashmir Valley-VI, had died on Oct 8 along with his wife Shireen Waheed and 12 other family members.

Mr Khan, elder son of former AJK prime minister Khan Abdul Hameed Khan and nephew of former NWFP chief minister Khan Abdul Qayyum Khan, was member of the Public Accounts Committee whereas his wife was AJK minister for social welfare and women development and population welfare since last November.

Ms Waheed had been elected against one of the five special seats reserved for women in the AJK assembly.

Replying to a question, the CEC said schedule for the council elections would be announced once the situation returned to normalcy.

The elections for four seats of the AJK Council, scheduled for Oct 27, had also been postponed by the CEC after the earthquake.

The council members are elected by the MLAs in accordance with the system of proportional representation by means of single transferable vote.

Similarly, he said, the indirect election against AJK assembly seat, which had become vacant due to the death of Ms Waheed, would also be held around the same time.

Justice Chaudhry recalled that he had ordered updating of the existing electoral rolls and the process involving 400 army personnel had begun two days before the quake. But, he said, the army withdrew its force after the quake due to which the process had to be abandoned.

He said he had contacted the army authorities for the resumption of that process and for the time being they had committed to provide military men in the three southern AJK districts - Mirpur, Kotli and Bhimber - which had not been affected by the temblor.

“As soon as the army personnel report us, the process will be kicked off to update voter lists for the general elections,” he said.

He said the same process in the districts of Poonch and Sudhnoti would be started in the second phase and later in the worst-hit districts of Muzaffarabad, Bagh and Neelum.

Justice Chaudhry said that buildings of 25 subordinate courts had completely collapsed in the quake, killing 12 employees, including a judge, and injuring many more.

The record was retrieved from beneath the debris of fallen structures with great effort and some courts had resumed functioning in tents while the rest were about to resume work in a couple of days, he said.

He said though there were difficulties because a portion of the high court premises was under army’s use, the court had nevertheless restarted its working.

We have granted interim relief on a writ petition whereas notices have also been issued to the parties after admission of three separate criminal cases.”

He said the monitoring cell of the HC had also resumed working, although the employees were still traumatized.

The CJ informed that he had distributed Rs2.5 million in cash besides some relief goods among the affected court employees and their dependents with the help of UK-based relatives and family friends.

More relief goods were also expected, he said, adding that preference was being given to employees in the lower tiers.

When a reporter asked if he would take suo moto action on alleged substandard construction of government buildings, including those of educational institutions, he said the matter was under consideration.