PPP sets sights on AJK throne

Bilawal to announce new PM nominee

ISLAMABAD:

The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) has decided to form a new government in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) after President Asif Ali Zardari approved a no-confidence motion against the incumbent AJK prime minister.

According to PPP AJK President Chaudhry Yasin, the party has formally decided to move ahead with forming its own government in the region. "The PPP has made a final decision to form its government in Azad Kashmir," Yasin told reporters after high-level party meetings in Islamabad.

He said that the parliamentary party's detailed consultations on the region's political situation and government formation took place in two sessions - the first chaired by PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari and the second by President Asif Ali Zardari, who also serves as the party's co-chairman.

"All members of the parliamentary party attended the meeting," Yasin said, adding that the president endorsed the party's decisions regarding the political strategy in AJK.

He confirmed that a no-confidence motion against the AJK prime minister would be tabled next week. "The president has approved the no-confidence move against the prime minister of Azad Kashmir," Yasin said.

He announced that Bilawal would unveil the name of the new AJK prime ministerial candidate on Tuesday.

"Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari himself will announce the name of the new prime minister," Yasin stated.

Yasin said that the PPP and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) were "on the same page" in AJK politics, adding that the "PML-N will vote in our favour when the no-confidence motion is tabled".

Former AJK prime minister Sardar Tanveer Ilyas said there should be no objection to power-sharing in AJK since the PML-N already leads the federal government.

Earlier, PPP sources confirmed that President Zardari had endorsed the key decisions taken during the party's meetings and given the green light for political manoeuvring aimed at an in-house change in AJK.

The meeting, held at Zardari House in Islamabad, was attended by senior PPP leaders, including Faryal Talpur, former prime minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf, Qamar Zaman Kaira and PPP AJK President Chaudhry Yasin, along with members of the party's parliamentary group in AJK.

Among the attendees were AJK Assembly Speaker Chaudhry Latif Akbar, Javed Ayub, Rafiq Nayyar, Bazil Naqvi, Javed Budhanvi, Faisal Rathore, Nabeela Ayub and Sardar Haji Yaqoob.