PTI names Khalid Khurshid as new G-B CM

Nomination comes after approval from PM; several names for cabinet also finalised

ISLAMABAD:

Prime Minister Imran Khan approved the name of Muhammad Khalid Khurshid Khan Advocate as the new chief minister Gilgit-Baltistan, Chief Organiser of Pakistan Tehreek Insaf (PTI) Saifullah Khan Nyazee said in a tweet on Friday.

Khurshid will be the PTI candidate in the election of the chief minister in Gilgit-Baltistan Legislative Assembly, which will be held on Saturday (today). Given the two-thirds majority of the PTI, Khurshid is expected to win the contest easily.

The approval of Khurshid’s name came after a meeting between Imran and Nyazee. They discussed matters related to the governance in Gilgit-Baltistan. The local and central leadership had also recommended the nomination of Khurshid for the coveted post.

Khurshid has been elected a member of the Gilgit-Baltistan Assembly from GBA-13 Astore-1. He had joined the PTI in 2018. In a recent statement he said. “We will follow the vision of Prime Minister Imran Khan and try to serve with utmost dedication in the interest of Gilgit Baltistan and its people.”

Meanwhile, the party has also finalised the names for the new G-B cabinet. Sources said that Fatehullah Khan will be made minister for planning and development and information, Wazir Saleem to be given works ministry, Raja Zakaria will head the forest department.

Also Azam Khan will be the minister for education. Gulbar Khan has been nominated for the ministry of health and Shams Lone for food ministry, Mushtaq Hussain for the water ministry, Haji Abdul Hameed for local government ministry and Raja Nasir Abbas will take charge of tourism ministry.

The election for the G-B Assembly were held on November 15 in which the PTI had won 10 seats, followed by Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) 3, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) 2, Majlis Wahdat-e-Muslimeen (MWM) 1 and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) 1 seat.

Seven independents also won but six of them later joined the PTI, raising its strength to 16. The election commission distributed 9 reserved seats on the basis of the party position – 4 women and 2 technocrat seats to PTI, 1 woman and 1 technocrat to PPP and 1 women seat to PML-N.

Following the issuance of notifications of successful candidates for the reserved seats of technocrat and women, the PTI’s strength in the 33-member house rises to 22 seats, PPP goes up to 5 and PML-N to 3. The MWM, the JUI-F independents share one seat each.

Any candidate for the chief ministership is required at least 17 votes. The PTI has 22 members in the 33-member house. Besides one member of Majlis-e-Wahdat Muslimeen is an ally. This raises the PTI coalition in the house to 23.

However, since PPP Amjad Hussain won on 2 seats and vacated one seat before taking oath as the lawmaker, the opposition coalition is reduced to 8. One Independent lawmaker Nawaz Naji has not yet made clear which side he would vote in the chief minister’s election.

On Thursday, PTI’s Syed Amjad Zaidi was elected as speaker of the G-B Assembly and Advocate Nazir Ahmed as deputy speaker. Zaidi polled 18 votes, while Advocate Nazir Ahmed bagged 22 votes. The opposition had already nominated Amjad Hussain as their candidate for chief ministership.

(WITH INPUT FROM APP)