Muzaffarabad (Web Desk): A session of the Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) was adjourned on Monday without the election of new prime minister.
The session was summoned to elect the leader of the House as the state’s high court disqualified former Prime Minister Sardar Tanveer Ilyas in a contempt of court case.
The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), which holds a majority in the AJK Legislative Assembly, has not revealed the name of the new candidate, as some members of the party have joined the forward bloc created by the AJK president who picked Chaudhry Rasheed as the candidate for the office.
As per the reports, the bloc has the backing of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N).
Shah Ghulam Qadir, regional president of PML-N, said their alliance was with the PPP as per a “power-sharing formula,” adding that they would be obliged to vote for the PPP candidate if they proposed one for PM.
However, the PPP did not contact the PML-N during their negotiations with Chaudhry’s forward bloc, nor did the bloc reach out to them.
The PML-N leader noted that if the situation persists, his party, which possesses seven votes, will make its own decision. Nonetheless, reports suggest that Chaudhry contacted the PML-N after seeing Qadir’s response, seeking support for the forward bloc candidate.
On April 11, the Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) High Court disqualified Tanveer Ilyas Khan from holding any public office after he was found guilty of contempt of court.
Sardar Tanveer Iliyas had criticized the stay orders issue by the courts and said the practice was affecting the performance of government.
"The stay orders were temporary order that must be decided within days but they lingered for years,"
Affiliated with PTI, Sardar Tanveer Ilyas served as AJK's premier for less than a year. He was elected unopposed as the 14th prime minister of the region on April 18, 2022.
After the resignation of Abdul Qayyum Khan Niazi as AJK premier, Ilyas had submitted nomination papers on behalf of PTI which were declared valid by the secretary assembly.