Muzaffarabad: Legislators in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) will elect a new prime minister today amid factionalism in the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI).
The election was announced after the disqualification of Sardar Tanveer Ilyas by the AJK High Court in a contempt of court case.
The PTI has a majority in the Azad Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly, but its path to getting a candidate loyal to Imran Khan as prime minister could be difficult.
Azad Jammu and Kashmir President Barrister Sultan Mahmood Chaudhry has formed a forward block in the assembly by rebelling against his own party. According to sources, Chaudhry’s forward block has the support of Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PMLN).
However, Muslim League (N) Azad Jammu and Kashmir President Shah Ghulam Qadir told Daily Jang that their alliance is with the PPP as per the “power sharing formula”.
Qadir explained that if the Prime Minister’s candidate was from PPP, we would have been obliged to vote for him. He added that the PPP did not contact the party when it was negotiating with the Forward Block, nor did the latter contact them.
The PML-N leader said that if the situation remains like this, PML-N will take its own decision with its seven votes.
However, after seeing Qadir’s reaction, AJK President Chaudhry approached the PML-N to support the Forward Bloc candidate, sources said.
Sardar Tanveer Ilyas disqualifiedÂ
Last week, in a major blow to the PTI, the AJK High Court disqualified Sardar Tanveer Ilyas for contempt of court.
The high court’s decision came after Ilyas was summoned to the Supreme Court and High Court of Azad Jammu and Kashmir for using “threatening tone” in one of his speeches.
The court disqualified Ilyas from holding any public office and asked Azad Jammu and Kashmir’s Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Abdul Rashid Salharia to hold elections for the new prime minister.
