Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s Sardar Tanveer Ilyas has been elected unopposed as the prime minister of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) on Monday.
The united opposition including Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) did not take part in the election and boycotted it. The seat was vacant after Abdul Qayyum Niazi gave his resignation on April 14 after his own party’s members submitted a no-trust motion against him.
The office of the AJK premier issued a hand-written resignation, which was sent to the president of Azad Jammu and Kashmir on Thursday evening.
Before that, Niazi sacked four ministers and an adviser who had brought forth the no-confidence motion against him.
According to a notification, the sacked ministers were involved in “misconduct, corruption and suspicious activities”.
According to media reports, Sardar Niazi had a meeting with Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan in Islamabad on Wednesday and offered to tender his resignation.
The meeting came after 25 members of the PTI filed a no-trust motion against the AJK premier on [last] Tuesday under Article 18 of AJK’s interim constitution. Niazi was elected as a member of the AJK Legislative Assembly in July 2021 from Poonch district.
The assembly session was convened by President Barrister Sultan Mahmood for the election. As for the party position, PTI has 32, PPP 12, PML-N 7, JKPP and Muslim Conference have one seat each.
PTI Chairman Imran Khan had nominated Sardar Tanveer Ilyas for the PM’s post.
From the opposition, no one filed the nomination papers against Tanveer Ilyas, that confirmed his victory, said the secretary of the assembly.
The newly-elected PM, Sardar Tanveer Ilyas, will take the oath of his office today (Monday).
