Lahore, Aug 27: Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supremo Nawaz Sharif has nominated Barrister Iftikhar Gillani as the party’s candidate for the post of prime minister in Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir (PoJK), a senior party leader said on Thursday.
The PoJK legislative assembly is expected to elect the new prime minister on Friday, following elections conducted in three phases on July 27, August 2 and August 3 amid violent protests and allegations of large-scale rigging.
Gillani, who lost the direct election from a Muzaffarabad constituency to Pakistan Peoples Party candidate Sardar Mukhtar Ahmed Khan Abbasi, was subsequently elected to the assembly on a reserved technocrat seat.
According to the senior PML-N leader, Gillani’s candidature was finalised on Nawaz Sharif’s recommendation after consultations with Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, PML-N regional president Shah Ghulam Qadir, former PoJK prime minister Raja Farooq Haider and other leaders.
Nawaz Sharif and Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz had campaigned for Gillani during the elections.
The assembly has 53 seats, including 45 directly elected seats and eight reserved seats for women, technocrats and clerics. However, elections to seven directly elected seats — five in Poonch district and two in Sudhnoti district — could not be held due to law-and-order concerns.
The new prime minister will therefore be elected without the assembly being at its full strength.
The newly elected members recently took oath, following which PML-N’s Chaudhary Tariq Farooq was elected Speaker and Muhammad Ahmed Raza Qadri was elected Deputy Speaker.
The elections were held against the backdrop of prolonged protests by the Joint Awami Action Committee (JAAC), which has been demonstrating in the region since early June. Several protesters and security personnel were killed during the unrest, after which the regional government banned the group.
India maintains that the entire Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh are integral and inalienable parts of India and asserts that Pakistan is in illegal and forcible occupation of parts of these territories.
