Nawaz to finalise AJK cabinet today

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Wednesday (today) is likely to endorse Raja Farooq Haider as the PML-N’s nominee for the next prime minister of Azad Jammu and Kashmir as the party prepares to form a government there following last week’s landslide victory.

The meeting of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) parliamentary party (all elected parliamentarians of the party) in Islamabad is also expected to finalise key cabinet portfolios.

The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) had last week swept the general elections for the 49-seat AJK Legislative Assembly, bagging 31 seats and a clear majority.

In this regard, Nawaz, head of the PML-N, has summoned a meeting of the party’s elected parliamentarians in Islamabad to decide portfolios in the new cabinet. Newly elected parliamentarians of the party from AJK will also attend the confab.

Haider, president of the PML-N’s AJK chapter, had been unanimously backed by 30 newly elected parliamentarians for the slot of parliamentary leader during a meeting in Muzaffarabad on Sunday.

Sources in the PML-N suggest that Nawaz has already informally consented to Haider as the next prime minister of AJK and the decision is likely to be formalised during Wednesday’s meeting.

Haider, though, remains silent on his likely nomination. “It is for the party to choose the premier. I am a PML-N member and will continue to be one whatever responsibility I am assigned,” he told The Express Tribune.

Asked about Wednesday’s meeting, Haider only offered that they will discuss the worsening situation in Indian-controlled Kashmir and other ‘party matters’.

Apart from deciding on the name for the next premier, the meeting will decide on names for the new speaker and deputy speaker of the AJK legislative assembly, ministers, advisors and other relevant positions.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 27^th, 2016.