A no-confidence motion against Azad Jammu and Kashmir Prime Minister Chaudhry Anwarul Haq succeeded on Monday, with 36 members in the Legislative Assembly voting in favour of it and two against it.
The two lawmakers who voted against the motion were from the PTI.
Following this development, Assembly Speaker Chaudhry Latif Akbar, who was chairing the session, pronounced PPP’s Raja Faisal Mumtaz Rathore as the new AJK premier.
The motion was tabled by PPP lawmaker Qasim Majeed today, after a resolution for a no-confidence vote against outgoing PM Haq was submitted to the Assembly Secretariat on Friday afternoon. The resolution was signed by 25 lawmakers, 23 from the PPP and two from the PML-N.
Shortly after today’s session began, Haq also arrived in the house. He went up to Rathore and exchanged greetings with him. Haq left after delivering a speech.
Big screens were installed outside the assembly’s building, where people viewed the proceedings live.
Changing PMs
With almost six months remaining in the assembly’s term, Rathore is the fourth prime minister elected in AJK in four years.
In August 2021, the PTI picked Abdul Qayyum Niazi as the premier after he was named for the slot by then-PM Imran Khan. Niazi had secured 35 votes against the joint opposition candidate Latif Akbar, who bagged only 15 votes, in the 53-seat house.
After nine months, Niazi resigned from the position and was replaced by PTI regional president Sardar Tanveer Ilyas.
In April 2023, Tanveer was disqualified by the full court bench of the AJK High Court from being a member of the legislative assembly for contempt. He was then replaced by Haq.
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