A no-confidence motion against AJK Prime Minister Chaudhry Anwarul Haq succeeded on Monday, with 36 members in the Legislative Assembly voting in favour of it and two against it.
Of the 29 PPP members, the speaker could not cast his vote and of the 9 PML-N members, one female member abstained. Two PTI legislators – regional president Sardar Abdul Qayyum Niazi and leader of the opposition Khawaja Farooq Ahmed – voted against the move.
Haq, who had arrived in the hall along with four loyalists, left along with them soon after delivering his speech.
Three PTI members did not attend. One member each of the Muslim Conference and the Jammu Kashmir Peoples Party (JKPP) also abstained. Apart from them, three PTI forward bloc members – Ansar Abdali, Mazhar Saeed and deputy speaker Chaudhry Riaz – also abstained.
After the votes were counted, AJK Assembly Speaker Chaudhry Latif Akbar, who was chairing the session, announced PPP’s Raja Faisal Mumtaz Rathore as the new premier.
Under the AJK Constitution, a vote of no confidence against the sitting prime minister automatically counts as a vote in favour of the lawmaker proposed as his successor in the same resolution.
The no-trust motion was tabled by PPP lawmaker Qasim Majeed in the assembly, after a resolution for a no-confidence vote against outgoing PM Haq was submitted to the Assembly Secretariat on Friday afternoon. The resolution was signed by 25 lawmakers, 23 from the PPP and two from the PML-N.
Shortly after the session began, Haq also arrived in the house. He went up to Rathore and exchanged greetings with him. Haq left after delivering a speech.
Haq’s loss seemed certain even before the no-confidence motion was tabled against him as the PPP had the guaranteed support of at least 29 lawmakers – two more than the requisite number needed for the motion to succeed.
Rathore is the 16th prime minister elected in AJK since 1975, when the parliamentary form of government was introduced in the region.
He pledged wide-ranging administrative reforms, financial discipline and political engagement with a civil society alliance, vowing that his government would strive to deliver within the next six to seven months.
Speaking on the floor of the Legislative Assembly at the close of the session, he thanked God “for placing a heavy responsibility on the shoulders of a political worker”, adding that divine responsibility always came with the strength to fulfil it.
Tracing his political lineage, he recalled that former premiers Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and Benazir Bhutto had entrusted his father with key responsibilities, including the office of prime minister, while PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari had reposed trust in him today. He said the mandate given to him belonged not just to him but to all those who had voted for him.
He noted that, in a rare gesture, outgoing prime minister Haq had “welcomed the incoming prime minister while departing”.
However, he acknowledged that the former prime minister’s “pen would move only after an earthquake-like situation befell the region” – a veiled reference to the massive agitations by the Jammu Kashmir Joint Awami Action Committee (JAAC) for acceptance of demands, which had resulted in several deaths.
Conceding that “we too made some wrong decisions”, the 47-year-old new leader said the JAAC was a “reality that must be recognised”.
He added: “Some of their demands are genuine and some aspirational, my government will continue talks with them.”
Rathore said public issues would be addressed strictly within available resources. “Some matters could have been resolved earlier but were delayed. As prime minister, I pledge that there will be no delay from my pen,” he vowed.
Rejecting the perception that politicians were a privileged class, he said his father had built only one house in Muzaffarabad with the help of friends – a house he himself had later sold to fund his election campaign. He invited scrutiny of his assets even after his term ended.
Rathore said all lawmakers who joined the PPP to help form his government had effectively become part of the party and would contest the next general elections from its platform.
Describing the current political climate – marked by protest movements and weakened leadership – as a major challenge, he underlined the need to strengthen AJK’s relationship with Pakistan. He added that if his government succeeded in delivering in the coming months, he would willingly serve as an ordinary member in the next assembly.
Announcing several administrative measures, the prime minister said each departmental secretary would be permitted only one official vehicle and that only 20 secretary-level positions would remain, with the rest abolished. He also announced the abolition of the posts of special secretary and senior additional secretary.