PDM-backed PTI forward bloc leader elected unopposed as AJK PM

• "Farewell to PTI govt in AJK, their fate will be the same in the rest of Pakistan,” PPP says.
• Chaudhry obtained 48 votes out of a 52-strong house — biggest mandate in history of AJK. 
• Emergency meeting of AJK Legislative Assembly was convened in wee hours to elect PM.

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) suffered a setback when the party’s forward bloc member Chaudhry Anwar-ul-Haq was elected unopposed as the 15th Prime Minister of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) in an unexpected turn of events in the wee hours on Thursday.

Chaudhry obtained 48 votes out of a 52-strong house — the biggest mandate in the history of the Azad Kashmir Legislative Assembly. Four lawmakers who did not vote include two PTI members, Sardar Atiq of the Muslim Conference and Sardar Hassan Ibrahim of the Jammu Kashmir Peoples Party.

The development took place after Sardar Tanveer Ilyas’s disqualification by the AJK High Court in a contempt case.

Earlier on Monday, an assembly session held to elect a new prime minister was adjourned without any polling taking place.

Several senior PTI leaders visited Muzafarrabad and tried to bridge differences between the warring factions led by Barrister Sultan Mehmood and Tanveer Ilyas but failed to achieve desired results.

PTI Chairman Imran Khan also held a meeting with the ex-AJK PM in Lahore but the party didn’t nominate anyone for the coveted post.

However, an emergency meeting of the AJK Legislative Assembly was convened in the wee hours on Thursday to elect the prime minister.

Interested candidates were given only 15 minutes to submit nomination papers after which the voting took place.

Chaudhry Anwar-ul-Haq was elected unopposed as no other candidate filed nomination papers against him. He was elected by a forward bloc of PTI and opposition parties, including the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N).

In his inaugural address to the assembly following his election, he said that he contested the election as an independent candidate, emphasising that he garnered the support of both the PDM and PTI members.

Chaudhry also struck a chord with opposition parties and set a power-sharing formula with them.

‘Nothing against party policy will be tolerated’

Meanwhile, in his reaction to Anwar-ul-Haq's nomination, former AJK PM Tanveer Ilyas slammed Anwar and said nothing against the party policy will be tolerated.

“Chaudhry Anwar used to say that I am doing this to save the party, today the conspiracy has been exposed,” he said.

“Chaudhry Anwar Haq told something to Imran Khan and something else to the Azad Kashmir establishment.”

Ilyas said that Khan didn’t nominate anyone for the prime ministership of Azad Kashmir.

‘Farewell to PTI govt in AJK’

While congratulating Anwar-ul-Haq for being elected unopposed, senior PPP leader Faisal Karim Kundi termed the development a “farewell to the PTI government in AJK”.

“Their fate will be the same in the rest of Pakistan,” he tweeted.

PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari also congratulated the newly elected prime minister.