- President approved no-confidence motion.
- PML-N forms committee led by Ahsan Iqbal.
- AJK assembly needs 27 seats to govern.
ISLAMABAD: President Asif Ali Zardari spoke by telephone with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to discuss the political situation in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK), sources told Geo News on Sunday, as the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) moves to form a new government in the territory.
According to sources, President Zardari took Prime Minister Shehbaz into confidence over the PPP’s decision and the strategy for government formation in AJK.
After the call, the prime minister tasked the PML-N committee on AJK affairs — chaired by Ahsan Iqbal and including Rana Sanaullah and Amir Muqam — with holding talks with the PPP. The committee has begun consultations with the PML-N’s AJK chapter, the sources added.
Separately, PML-N parliamentary leader and former AJK prime minister Raja Farooq Haider reiterated his party’s stance that it will sit in opposition and will not be part of any government formation in AJK.
He told the party’s parliamentary meeting that the decision to remain in opposition stands and there is no room for change.
In Islamabad, PPP leaders held separate meetings chaired by President Zardari and by PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari as the party moved to finalise its course of action, sources said on Saturday.
The session at the President’s House — attended by Bilawal, Faryal Talpur, Raja Pervaiz Ashraf and Qamar Zaman Kaira — approved moving a no-confidence motion against the incumbent AJK premier, sources said. The president is expected to finalise the party’s nominee for the AJK premiership after further consultations.
Party sources confirmed that Bilawal would formally announce the government formation plan on Monday. PPP insiders said the party is considering Chaudhry Muhammad Yasin and Chaudhry Latif Akbar among the names for the AJK premiership. Chaudhry Yasin told reporters the party had taken a “final decision” to form the government and that leadership would determine the nominee.
The AJK Legislative Assembly has 52 members and a simple majority requires 27 votes. Presently, PPP holds 17 seats, PML-N nine, and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf four; the Muslim Conference and Jammu Kashmir Peoples Party each have one member.
A twenty-member forward bloc also exists inside the assembly. To reach the 27-member threshold, PPP needs additional backing; with PML-N support, its total would rise to 26 seats. As PML-N’s AJK president Shah Ghulam Qadir has announced his party will sit in opposition, the PPP has intensified contacts with forward bloc members to secure the numbers required for government formation.
The sources said the AJK premier, Chaudhry Anwarul Haq, has begun consultations amid an expected in-house change that could occur either through resignation or a no-confidence motion.
The premier is likely to make a significant decision within 48 hours, according to sources. PPP leaders said they have secured the numbers necessary to table and pass a no-confidence motion if the incumbent refuses to step down, though the party has not yet publicly demonstrated the required assembly strength.
Kaira, speaking outside Zardari House, described the situation in AJK as “worrying for all parties” and said the party would hold further consultation with the president before making formal public announcements.
He added that while there was talk that PML-N had decided to sit in opposition, PPP had not received a formal notification on that matter at the time.
With negotiations ongoing and the PPP leadership having authorised a no-confidence approach, party sources said important political developments were expected in the coming days. Bilawal is due to make a formal announcement on Monday on the party’s plans and the name of its chosen candidate.
