AJK Legislative Assembly session summoned on November 17

MUZAFFARABAD: The session of the Azad Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly has been summoned on 17 November at 3pm, a notification said.

During the session, a vote of no-confidence will be moved against AJK Prime Minister Chaudhry Anwarul Haq.

The AJK Legislative Assembly currently has 52 members following the resignation of one member.

A simple majority requires the support of 27 lawmakers. The PPP has 17 members, while the PML-N holds nine.

Ten members from Barrister Sultan’s group and the Forward Bloc have extended their support to the PPP, bringing the party’s total strength to 36 — well above the required majority of 27.

Prime Minister Anwar-ul-Haq’s group currently comprises 10 members, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) AJK has four, while the Muslim Conference and Jammu Kashmir Peoples Party (JKPP) hold one seat each.

Overseas seat member Muhammad Iqbal has already resigned. If the no-confidence motion fails, it cannot be moved again for six months.

Earlier, the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) tabled the no confidence motion in AJK assembly. PPP leaders also confirmed that Faisal Mumtaz Rathore has been nominated as PPP’s candidate for the new AJK prime minister slot.

Faisal Mumtaz Rathore was born on April 11, 1978 in Rawalpindi. He is a prominent political leader from Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) and a senior figure in the PPP AJK chapter. He belongs to one of the most influential political families in AJK.

Faisal Mumtaz Rathore is the son of Mumtaz Hussain Rathore, a major political figure who served as Senior Minister in 1975, Prime Minister of AJK in 1990, Leader of the Opposition in 1991, and Speaker of the Legislative Assembly in 1996.

His mother, Begum Farhat Rathore, was also a parliamentarian as well as president of the PPP Women’s Wing in AJK. The Rathore family is considered one of the founding families of the PPP in Kashmir and has shaped the region’s politics for decades.

He received his early education in Rawalpindi and graduated from University of the Punjab. His political career began in 2006 when he first contested from LA-17 Haveli Kahuta. He was elected to the AJK Legislative Assembly in 2011 on a PPP ticket. He served as a minister in Chaudhry Abdul Majeed’s cabinet.