AJK PM Anwarul Haq faces no-confidence motion

Muzaffarabad (Web Desk): The Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) Legislative Assembly convened today as a no-confidence motion targeting Prime Minister Chaudhry Anwarul Haq took center stage.

The resolution, submitted to the Assembly secretariat on Friday afternoon, was signed by 25 lawmakers—23 from the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and two from the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N).

Assembly Speaker Chaudhry Latif Akbar presided over the session, attended by members of the treasury and opposition Leader Khawaja Farooq Ahmad from the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI). 
Prime Minister Haq and his supporters were noticeably absent.

Meanwhile, the PPP appears set to elect its AJK secretary general, Raja Faisal Mumtaz Rathore, as the next prime minister.

This development comes after two PTI lawmakers—Minister for Elementary Education Deewan Ali Chughtai and Minister for Small Industries Corporation Taqdees Kausar Gillani—joined the PPP over the weekend following a meeting with party leader Faryal Talpur, increasing the party’s strength to 29 members. In October, the PPP had already bolstered its numbers to 27 after ten

PTI forward bloc lawmakers switched allegiance. With 52 members in the assembly, a simple majority requires support from 27 lawmakers.

According to the AJK Constitution, a successful no-confidence vote against the sitting prime minister automatically counts as a vote in favor of the lawmaker proposed as successor. If the motion passes, Rathore is expected to become the next prime minister, marking the fourth leadership change in the current assembly since 2021.

AJK’s recent political history has seen rapid turnovers. In August 2021, Abdul Qayyum Niazi of the PTI was appointed prime minister, winning 35 votes against joint opposition candidate Latif Akbar, who received 15, in the 53-member house.

Niazi resigned after nine months and was succeeded by PTI regional president Sardar Tanveer Ilyas, who was later disqualified in April 2023 by the full bench of the AJK High Court for contempt, leading to Haq’s appointment.