Faisal Rathore becomes new AJK PM after no-confidence ousts Haq

MUZAFFARABAD:  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. Meanwhile, 14 lawmakers abstained from voting in the 53-member assembly.

After the votes were counted, Assembly Speaker Chaudhry Latif Akbar, who was chairing the session, announced PPP’s Raja Faisal Mumtaz Rathore as the new AJK premier.

Under the AJK Constitution, a vote of no confidence against the sitting prime minister automatically counts as a vote in favour of the lawmaker proposed as his successor in the same resolution.

Rathore is the 16th prime minister elected in AJK since 1975, when the parliamentary form of government was introduced in the region.

The no-trust motion was tabled by PPP lawmaker Qasim Majeed in the assembly on Monday, 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 Monday’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.

Haq’s loss seemed certain even before the no-confidence motion was tabled against him on Monday as the PPP had guaranteed support of at least 29 lawmakers — two more than the requisite number needed for the motion to succeed.

In October, the PPP’s ranks in the AJK Legislative Assembly had swelled to 27 after 10 lawmakers from the PTI forward bloc joined the party.

On Sunday, two more PTI lawmakers, said to be from the party’s forward bloc — Minister for Elementary Education Deewan Ali Chughtai and Minister for Small Industries Corporation Taqdees Kausar Gillani — announced their decision to join the PPP after meeting Faryal Talpur.

With almost six months remaining in the assembly’s term, Rathore is the fourth prime minister elected in AJK in four years. Staff Report