MUZAFFARABAD: Azad Jammu & Kashmir (AJK) Legislative Assembly will make a pivotal choice today, with lawmakers set to vote on a no-confidence motion that could unseat Prime Minister Chaudhry Anwarul Haq and elevate PPP’s Raja Faisal Mumtaz Rathore as the region’s new leader.
The motion — submitted on Friday — triggered Speaker Chaudhry Latif Akbar to summon the Assembly for a special session at 3 pm Monday, where the future leadership of AJK will be formally decided.
The PPP has nominated Raja Faisal Mumtaz Rathore, a young parliamentarian and the party’s regional secretary general, as its candidate for the top office. The party had already secured the minimum 27 votes needed to oust the sitting premier, but its chairman, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, pushed for full political alignment with the federal coalition.
Following his meeting with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, the PML-N confirmed it would support the no-trust motion — though it announced it would not seek any share in a PPP-led government. Two senior PML-N figures in AJK, Shah Ghulam Qadir and Raja Farooq Haider, signed the resolution alongside 23 PPP lawmakers.
Opposition benches split as the opposition stay away
The five-member PTI opposition bloc, along with the Muslim Conference and Jammu Kashmir Peoples Party (JKPP), has announced a boycott of the process.
But the PPP gained further ground on Sunday when two PTI forward-bloc ministers — Deewan Ali Chughtai and Taqdees Kausar Gillani — defected to the PPP after meeting Faryal Talpur, boosting the party’s strength to 29 lawmakers.
“We will get the no-confidence motion through with a wide margin,” said senior PPP leader and cabinet member Chaudhry Qasim Majeed. “The PML-N will also support us in this regard.”
The no-trust resolution accuses Prime Minister Haq of causing “serious damage to the constitutional, ideological and democratic framework of the state” through his governance style and confrontational approach — charges he has rejected outright.
Speaking to a private TV channel, Mr Haq called the accusations “childish” and “frivolous”, adding that their language was so poor he could have “drafted the accusations… in better words” had his cabinet colleagues asked.
He insisted he had broken the “status quo” and involved the cabinet in all major decisions. Allegations of a “confrontational” attitude, he said, were baseless since his public record showed no disruptive behaviour.
A vote of no confidence equals a vote for Rathore
Under the AJK Constitution, ousting a sitting prime minister automatically means electing the replacement named in the same resolution. If today’s vote succeeds — as numbers strongly suggest — Raja Faisal Mumtaz Rathore will become the fourth prime minister elected by the current Assembly since 2021.
According to PPP’s Chaudhry Majeed, the new premier is expected to take oath on Tuesday, with President Barrister Sultan Mahmood administering the oath. PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari is also expected to attend the ceremony.
With shifting alliances, political defections, and strong party manoeuvring, today’s session will determine who leads Azad Kashmir through the remaining life of a frequently reshuffled Assembly. The decisive vote is expected to end the tenure of Chaudhry Anwarul Haq and potentially usher in Raja Faisal Mumtaz Rathore as AJK’s next prime minister.
