The Gilgit-Baltistan Assembly on Thursday elected Haji Gulbar Khan as new Chief Minister (CM) of the province. The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) backed Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) forward bloc candidate bagged 19 votes. His election to the role comes after PTI’s Khalid Khurshid Khan was disqualified as chief minister over a fake degree earlier this month. Just days earlier, opposition leader in the Gilgit-Baltistan Assembly Amjad Hussain had resigned from his assembly membership and announced boycotting the elections.

 In the 32-member house, the PTI has 19 members, the PPP four, the PML-N three and the Muttahida Wahdat-i-Muslimeen three as well, while the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) and Islam Tehreek Pakistan have one each, along with one independent candidate. Gulbar has served as the GB health minister during the previous PTI government as well as in early 2011. Belonging to the Diamer district, Gulbar was leading one of the two forward blocs within the PTI and had previously declared he would contest for the position independently.

 Initially, opposition parties had decided to nominate a joint candidate with the support of estranged PTI members and claimed the support of the required 17 members. The authority to decide the candidate from any opposition party member was given to the central leaderships of the PPP, the PML-N, and the JUI-F. After voting, which started around 12:00 at noon, the speaker Gilgit-Baltistan Assembly announced results of the election. The PML-N and the PPP had announced their support for Haji Gulbar Khan of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) forward bloc for the post, while three members of the PTI like-minded group who had submitted their nomination papers for the post of chief minister late at night announced to boycott the election. Candidates were told could withdraw nomination papers till 10 am on Thursday. The PTI ally in the GB Assembly (Like-minded group) said the majority in the assembly was forcibly converted into a minority.

 Like-minded group members who boycotted election of the chief minister said that their fellow assembly members were lured by schemes worth tens of millions of rupees. They further alleged that fellow members had also been threatened with arrests and lawsuits in case they did not cooperate. They said they would play the role of opposition in the assembly effectively and vigorously. Raja Azam Khan, Javed Manwa and Raja Zakaria Muktoon of the PTI like-minded group were in the race for chief minister slot. On the other hand, Speaker GB Assembly had rejected the resignation of opposition leader Amjad Hussain Advocate. He said that Amjad Hussain Advocate had tendered his resignation in haste during the current political conflict.

 
Credit : Independent News Pakistan-INP