MUZAFFARABAD (Kashmir English): The Speaker of the Azad Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly on Monday formally appointed Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) MLA Shah Ghulam Qadir as the Leader of the Opposition.
The AJK Legislative Assembly Secretariat issued a notification in this regard.
As per the notification, Speaker Chaudhry Latif Akbar approved the appointment of Shah Ghulam Qadir MLA as opposition leader based on the majority opinion of the members of the opposition under Rule 17 (A) of the Rules of Procedure of the Legislative Assembly.
Earlier today, the PML-N formally submitted a request to the Azad Kashmir Legislative Assembly Speaker’s Chamber for the appointment of MLA Shah Ghulam Qadir as the Leader of the Opposition, as the nominee of the single largest party.
Former Prime Minister of Azad Kashmir and PML-N Azad Kashmir Parliamentary Party Leader, Raja Farooq Haider Khan, submitted the signatures of nine party members of the assembly to appoint Shah Ghulam Qadir as opposition leader in the Legislative Assembly.
The members who signed the letter include Raja Farooq Haider Khan, Col Waqar Noor, Raja Muhammad Siddique Khan, Ahmed Raza Qadri, Chaudhry Muhammad Ismail, Sardar Amir Altaf, Muhammad Akmal Sargala, Nisaran Abbasi, and Shah Ghulam Qadir.
PML-N had opposed the no-confidence motion against former Prime Minister Chaudhry Anwarul Haq and simultaneously voted for the election of new Prime Minister Faisal Mumtaz Rathore.
President of the All Jammu and Kashmir Muslim Conference, Sardar Attique Ahmed, also announced to support PML-N’s candidate for the opposition leader and wrote a letter to the Speaker AJK Legislative Assembly for Shah Ghulam Qadir’s nomination.
The development comes weeks after the AJK Assembly elected PPP leader Faisal Mumtaz Rathore as the new Prime Minister after ousting former premier Anwarul-Haq through a no-confidence motion.
On November 18, newly elected Prime Minister Rathore took the oath of office during a ceremony held at the President’s House in Muzaffarabad.
