Taking office: Sher Jehan Mir takes oath as G-B’s new CM

Caretaker CM to hold elections for a new govt next year

GILGIT: The first-ever caretaker chief minister of Gilgit-Baltistan (G-B), Sher Jehan Mir, was sworn into office on Friday.  

G-B Governor Pir Karam Ali Shah administered the oath to Mir in a ceremony held at Governor House. Former chief minister Mehdi Shah, former assembly speaker Wazir Baig, former G-B lawmakers, members of the G-B Council as well as police and military personnel attended the ceremony.

Mir, a renowned banker, was appointed the interim CM by the federal government on Tuesday after it made relevant amendments in the G-B Empowerment and Self-Governance Order 2009.

The order had given G-B the status of a de facto province but did not have the provision for a caretaker set-up after the legislative assembly completed its tenure.

Mir was appointed on the recommendations of Shah, former leader of the opposition Janbaz Khan and Federal Minister for G-B and Kashmir Affairs Birjis Tahir.

The incumbent chief minister will appoint his cabinet from the three administrative divisions of G-B and hold elections for a new government next year.

The former Pakistan Peoples Party-led government completed its five-year tenure earlier this week and the assembly was dissolved.

Many in G-B had feared political uncertainty after the government’s term ended, however, the federal government’s last-minute actions managed to prevent the region from falling into a constitutional limbo.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 13^th, 2014.