MUZAFFARABAD (Kashmir English): The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) has officially nominated Faisal Mumtaz Rathore for Prime Minister of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) as the party is set to move a no-confidence motion against the current PM Anwarul Haq.
The party’s senior leader, Raja Pervaiz Ashraf, alongside PPP Azad Kashmir President Chuadhry Yasin, made the official announcement during a press conference in Islamabad.
Announcing that PPP will bring a no-confidence motion against the PM Haq today, Ashraf said that Faisal Mumtaz Rahtore will be the Leader of the House.
“The PPP Azad Kashmir wholeheartedly accepts the decision of the leadership,” President of the party’s AJK chapter, Chaudhry Yasin, wrote in a post on Facebook. “Insha Allah, everyone will play their full role for the welfare of the people of Azad Kashmir,” he added.
PPP submits no-confidence motion
Soon after the announcement regarding Faisal Rathore, the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) of Azad Kashmir submitted a no-confidence motion against Azad Kashmir Prime Minister Chaudhry Anwarul Haq in the Azad Kashmir Legislative Assembly.
The motion, presented before the Senior Special Secretary Amjad Abbasi, was submitted by the Assembly members Chaudhry Qasim Majeed, Javed Ayub, and Malik Zafar.
Sources close to the party revealed that the prime minister, Anwarul Haq, may quit the post before the formal voting process starts.
Prime Minister of Azad Kashmir Chaudhry Anwarul Haq is likely to resign before the voting on the no-confidence motion.
The People’s Party has the support of 36 members of the assembly out of 53 for the no-confidence motion. The initial number of members of the People’s Party in the Azad Kashmir Assembly was 17. A total of 10 members of the Barrister Sultan Group and the Forward Bloc have now joined the PPP.
The nine members of PML-N have also decided to vote for PPP in the Legislative Assembly.
Faisal Mumtaz Rathore Profile
Faisal Rathore first contested elections from LA-17 Haveli Kahuta in 2006. In the 2011 elections, he was elected as a member of the Legislative Assembly on a Pakistan Peoples Party ticket and served as the Minister of Education and Minister of Electricity in the cabinet of Chaudhry Abdul Majeed. In 2016, he was arrested in a political case, but was later found innocent.
On March 23, 2017, Faisal Rathore was appointed Secretary General of the Pakistan Peoples Party Azad Kashmir, and has held this position to this day.
He was elected as a member of the Legislative Assembly for the second time in the 2021 elections and played a strong opposition role.
In 2023, he was elected as the Minister for Local Government and Rural Development in the coalition government of Chaudhry Anwarul Haq and was also appointed as the head of the negotiation committee with the Awami Action Committee.
Faisal Mumtaz Rathore is popular among political and military circles, the Awami Action Committee, and the public due to his conciliatory, soft-spoken, and non-controversial personality.
