MUZAFFARABAD: Chaudhry Anwar-ul-Haq was elected as the 15th prime minister of Azad Jammu and Kashmir on Thursday with the biggest mandate in the history of the AJK Legislative Assembly.
A member of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s forward bloc, Chaudhry Anwar obtained 48 of the total 52 votes in the election that took place in the wee hours of Thursday. He also had the backing of Pakistan Peoples Party and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz.
Two PTI members, Sardar Atiq of Muslim Conference and Sardar Hassan Ibrahim of Jammu Kashmir Peoples Party did not vote.
The AJK Legislative Assembly had to elect a new prime minister after Sardar Tanveer Ilyas was found guilty of contempt of court and was consequently disqualified.
An emergency meeting of the AJK Legislative Assembly was convened in the wee hours on Thursday to elect the new prime minister and candidates were given only 15 minutes to submit nomination papers. No candidate filed nomination papers against Chaudhry Anwar.
Chaudhry Anwar belongs to Bhimbar District of Azad Kashmir. He was first elected as a member of the AJK Legislative Assembly in 2006 and has been the speaker of the assembly twice.
This new development in Azad Jammu and Kashmir is being considered as a major setback for the Imran Khan-led Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf.
