Islamabad, Jun 21 (PTI) The Pakistan Peoples Party on Sunday named its candidate for the so-called chief ministerial position in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir’s Gilgit-Baltistan, days after emerging as the single largest party in elections held in the region.
The party’s chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari nominated Amjad Hussain, a lawyer by profession, for the top post, it said in a statement.
India maintains that the entire Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh, including Gilgit-Baltistan, are integral and inalienable parts of India by virtue of the “complete, legal and irrevocable accession” of Jammu and Kashmir to India in 1947.
India lodged a strong protest with Pakistan over the so-called elections in the region on June 7, maintaining that Gilgit-Baltistan is part of Indian territory that has been “illegally and forcibly” occupied by Pakistan.
Following the polls, the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) emerged as the largest party, with 12 seats in the so-called 24-member Gilgit-Baltistan assembly.
On Sunday, the PPP issued a statement saying, “Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari has decided to appoint PPP’s provincial president, Advocate Amjad Hussain, as the chief minister of Gilgit-Baltistan.” It further said, “The PPP chairman issued instructions to Advocate Amjad regarding government formation and the implementation of the constitutional and economic rights of the people.” Hussain served as a member of the Gilgit-Baltistan Assembly from 2020 to 2025, and was a member of the region’s legislative council from 2009 to 2014.
Earlier in the day, the Dawn newspaper reported that the PPP will form a government in the region with the support of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) under a power-sharing formula mirroring the arrangement at the federal level.
The decision to form a coalition government was based on “mutual trust, consensus and consultation,” according to a statement cited by the newspaper.
Local PPP and PML-N leaders agreed on a proposed power-sharing formula following a consultation meeting, under which the so-called chief minister will be from the PPP, while the governor and the leader of the opposition will be from the PML-N, the newspaper said.
Additionally, the post of deputy speaker will also go to the PML-N, it said.
“The decision of the PML-N’s central leadership to support the PPP in forming a government has been endorsed by the local leadership,” PML-N regional chief Hafeez Hafeezur Rehman said. PTI SH GRS ZH ABD GRS GRS
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